


Grave Mentor

by Yincira



Series: Maritime Hymn [1]
Category: Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch
Genre: Amnesia, Angels, Brainwashing, Conspiracy, Drama, F/M, Fantasy, Fate, Mary Sue, Mermaids, Mind Manipulation, Psychological Trauma, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-17
Updated: 2013-08-02
Packaged: 2017-11-21 18:33:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 40
Words: 156,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/600853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yincira/pseuds/Yincira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When mermaids actually have kingdoms with a voice, when Lucia isn't fit to be a goddess, when someone figures out it made no sense to take away the sole living Ancient, when everyone remembers there are a lot of innocent Panthalassans locked up for crimes they didn't commit, and when Earth and her erratic fate continues being a massive pain, then this might happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Contrition

**· · · · · · ·**

Himmel, Tenkai, Caelum, Cennet, Heaven, and a whole lot more words could describe Michel's new home as long as one limited their meaning to _mystical realm far above earth full with feathery winged people_. Would the meaning be expanded to, say, a happy place full of good people, then something was left to be desired.

The bitter truth was that the creatures of heaven beheld earth as their lost eden, like mankind often looked to heaven for paradise. There was no fire, forest or water here, let alone food, sleep or dreams. The Ancients were sustained by raw aether and a complicated art of illusions. As happy as Michel had been to find a family, he had started missing those things within a day.

Now, an unkind eleven years later, it wasn't getting any better. He'd been across all the sky castles in the thermosphere and the most real thing he had found was music.

Michel was in his own room, which was as glorious as ancient spirit magic could craft it and therefore absolutely perfect. The pillars were perfect, the curtains were perfect, the totally useless bed was perfect, the gold trimming was perfect, the sculptures and paintings were perfect and Michel was so bored he might have died if he wasn't a spirit already. There was way too much free time to think about himself and everything he didn't live up to. Focusing on anything else, whether it be (orange) mermaids, Fuku hatching more world plans, the distant awareness of Michal or his non-feathery winged family always led back that nagging little voice that said, "You jerk, you nearly tried destroying the world, stop whining and be a better person."

That was said easier than it was done. The Ancients didn't really need a new Emperor, since they didn't really have a life anyway. What hierarchy they had had been established millions of years ago, and Michel had no experience leading what so ever. At least, no experience that didn't involve abusing his underlings and commanding monsters to invade cities.

All of this amounted to him being nothing but a needy child surrounded by spirits so old they'd nearly forgotten what real life was like.

So it came that he was sitting on his bed, purely for pretending there was gravity here, and looking at a manmade satellite passing through his room. While this realm was invisible to human eyes, the Ancients could see into the core world just fine.

He had been told repeatedly to ignore the satellites, because touching them might bridge the two realms. For eleven years and a desire to not disappoint anyone had kept him from answering his curiosity.

Floating over, he reached out a hand. The satellite passed through it with a shimmer.

His expectations had been to see what the satellite saw, and perhaps those watching through the satellite would see a ghostly hand. That was not what he got.

All those who had somehow been involved in the satellite's creation, be it first, third or seventh generation, a rush of moments of a hundred lives poured into Michel's mind.

The first smile of a baby; the phone that rang when someone needed it; wordless signs of love; the trust of a child in her parents; all pieces of what life was worth living for. He also got the moments not worth anything. The beat-down girl in the kitchen while her boyfriend told her it was her own fault; the Alzheimer patient who forced a smile on his face for his wife; an engagement ring with a diamond that was harvested in blood.

As a spirit, the limitations of a moral brain to handle information were the last thing he expected. Overloaded with more information than he could handle, his sight became hazy and the surrounded became as silent as space without magic. Even the floor disappeared and he saw vague blotches of white and green below him, whatever land the castle was over now. He couldn't remember which, not enough room in his awareness right now.

There was just a feeling about how criminal it was that he was here, in peace, and down there, punishment came to innocents. Then he passed out.

**· · · · · · ·**

_"True, they are not our kin on a biological level, but we're spirits now. It matters even less than before. Why did you send Lanhua, Lady Bat and Alala away?"_

_"They deserve a real life without being some sort of accessoire to me."_

_"You're saying that_ you don't _deserve it, then?"_

_**· · · · · · ·** _

_"Fuku, have you lost your mind? Why in God's name did you do that?"_

_"Lord Michel, how can you have forgotten so easily? The old Michel would have been heartbroken to see his lovely earth destroyed as it is."_

_"Then what would he think of you unleashing a global meteorite shower?"  
_

_"He would surely not be that happy, but I only targeted the cities. He would have understood. Don't you, Michel? Nothing changed that day about our desire to save the planet, did it? Humans deserve to be taken down a few notches, abominations as they are."  
_

_"Oh, I'm understanding you perfectly well. Some things don't deserve forgiveness. Humans as a whole still have a chance, but I'm reconsidering the forgiveness I gave you."  
_

**· · · · · · ·**

It was possible after all to feel ill in this realm, Michel learned upon waking up. The sticky unease of his astral body didn't approach the pain he'd known when an incomplete clone, so he bit it back and got off the divan.

"You really ought to rest, lord Michel."

Turning, he saw a form possible that of Yehariel, but his vision was still a bit blurry and the surrounded overlapped with the dark of space and stars. She was attending to a bowl with nectar, the chosen form of the food of spirits. Using her fingers, she wove the fake liquid into threads and finally bread, which she then took to Michel.

She gestured him to sit down again, but he stayed on his feet and just took the bread, eating it silently. He didn't have the focus to imagine a taste to it, so it was a hollow gesture. At least he got the energy from it.

"Oh, lord Michel ... you are not healing very well."

"I'm not Michel," he said sharply.

" _That_ attitude is exactly what I mean," she said.

"Then you know it's impossible. I have the form of someone whom I will never live up to. This is the spirit realm, can't I get another form?"

"Even as spirits, we are bound to our biological origins. Even if it was possible to change appearance, we would ask you to reconsider. Losing one's form can be greatly traumatic to the point of warping the mind. Doctor Amagi wasn't always bent on sacrificing the world either, was he?"

Michel didn't look at her and chewed harder than necessary.

"Please walk with me, lord Michel," she said with a sigh.

"For another encouragement speech?" Michel muttered. He was aware of how unkind that sounded, but such things slipped out of him often before he could stop himself. Part of him wanted them to get angry with him and put him in his place, but he'd been waiting for that in vain.

She held open the door and he followed her to the outer perimeters of the sky castle, all the way to the landing platform. The last door open, they looked out onto the white fake marble and the real horizon beyond that, where the sun was eternally rising.

This castle drifted on the edge of the day, circling along with the planet so that the sun never disappeared beyond their horizon. Distant castles like their own were visible from here, all located on the same edge of light.

"Another side effect of changing your form would be that you would likely lose the ability to return to earth," Yehariel casually said.

This caught Michel by surprise. "Wait, _what_?"

"Unlike us, your Panthalassan and human heritage through Michal allows you a body to can live in earth's current atmosphere. You merely need to manifest, though be warned you'll be low on energy."

Michel wasn't even certain whether he was surprised over being told so casually this was apparently the reason the Ancients never came back to earth — it should be easy to grow them more spare bodies — or the idea he technically never had needed to leave Seira with a vague promise of return, instead could have just told her he's drop by next week if she liked him to.

"Why didn't anyone mentioned this for the past decade?"

"We asked you countless times whether you wanted to go visit any mermaids or earth."

"I thought you were trying to provoke some soul searching about whether I'd really changed my opinion about destroyed the world."

Yehariel sighed again and rubbed her forehead pointlessly.

"You interpreting it that way rather comes across as a product of your perpetual self loathing, Michel."

"Maybe, but I spent the first seven years of my life as a spirit trying to get a physical body. When sending Michal back, we had to put her into a baby's body, for goodness sake! Let's not get started on the bents I went through to get bodies for Lanhua, Alala and Lady Bat, at the cost of their magic. I've got a good reason to think it wouldn't be easy!"

"But not that it would be impossible. Honestly, lord Michel, you'd rather stick your hand into satellites than come ask us about visiting those three, not to mention Michal and Seira."

Yehariel, normally an epitome of serenity as all Ancients were, was starting to look vexed to Michel's clearing eyes. It was dawning on him again that he was being horribly rude. The Ancients, his family, had always been patient with him, understanding and —

"I'm sorry for that remark, I didn't mean to sound ungrateful, I just —" he hurried to explain, but fell silent when she held up a hand.

"Well, lord Michel, I am about to deliver the mother of all soul searching speeches."

Michel started to feel uneasy for an entirely different reason. He didn't like to disappoint anyone.

"After seeing what happened to you today, we have come revoked an earlier decision. Lord Michel, you've spend enough time here tormenting yourself while trying to satisfy what you _think_ we expect of you." With that, she shoved Michel out of the gate. Caught unaware, he stumbled across the marble floor and over the edge, spreading his wings on instinct.

He floated there for a moment, wondering whether he was hallucinating something as a result of the vision overload or ... turning around, he saw Yehariel smiling way too much and closing the door, and the aether stream feeding him. Nope, not hallucinating.

"You're kicking me out?"

"Why, yes. We're your family, we love you, so we're giving you something to do. Here's your flute," she said as she tossed him the golden instrument.

"But what am I supposed to do?"

"Go to Earth, off course. Go find your mutant animals."

"They're still around?"

"Certainly. Don't worry, they are being taken care of, but maybe you should check to make sure. Goodbye, and bring us home some beautiful memories!"

The gate shut with a loud slam of magically emphasized sound, then the dead silence of space set in and the sky castles became less substantial.

"What the heck?" Michel whispered to himself.

Millions of years of _no_ experience with traumatized angels showed in Yehariel's approach to sending him on his way. Still, Michel was less offended than confused. Besides, who was he to be offended by anything? He once had eaten people alive, after all.

If he just stayed and asked to be let in repeatedly, he knew they would eventually open up. Whether he'd face the humiliation he'd feel and their disappointment, that was another question altogether. Besides, the blue on the horizon was rather inviting.

He didn't know what to begin with himself and didn't have any answers, except one : they were right, staying here was a dead end. The least he could do was head forward.

Or downward, same difference.

As if on cue, a form manifested on the horizon, not too far away. A brownhaired girl with a glowing cross on her forehead, he easily recognized her as Michal. Whether that was an astral projection or illusionary magic responding to him and a growing connection to earth, he didn't know.

She waved at him and then pointed down to Earth. At the same moment, a familiar song broke the silence. He smiled, as always, when he didn't want to. Seira's song never failed to.

_Don't fear journeys. You can go forth in them with your blinding courage ..._

The little orange mermaid who had been the first to reach out to him ... he'd seen her only a few times when visiting Michal as spectral form. After Michal had learned of her past, she had taken to making photographs and posting them on her wall. On them, Seira always seemed happy, he wondered how accurate that was. Michal always looked happy too on those photos, though he knew she was not. He still had a spiritual link to her, he knew enough.

_In order to light up the dark galaxy, I'll pass the meaning of the light of life to you._

He'd actually heard these lyrics for years, but only at times when he needed to feel better. Not when thinking about how others felt.

_Even the map written out for you in the future can be changed._

He spread his four wings, jumped off the castle and descended, with the song as his guidance. Time to change do the world some favors for a change.

**· · · · · · ·**


	2. Paralian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of islands and monsters and overworked people.

 

**· · · · · · ·**

Responsibility was something not to be taken lightly, but certainly not heavily either. Seira prefer to take it as aluminum, tough but flexible.

So for now, it really served no point to stare at this parchment any longer.

"Princess!" the startled court attendant shouted when she shot out of the castle.

"The Princess needs to clear her thoughts!" she called back cheerfully. That, and possible catch up on some sleep.

A tiny island far out in the Pacific Ocean was her destination, which she reached on foot across her astral staircase. There were some perks to being unborn for eight years.

Here the sun was only a pale disc beyond the fog, barely enough to cast shadows, but the heat reached down anyway. That and the lack of good view kept humans from using the tropical island as a vacation spot. All just as well, since her friends here were far from passing for normal.

The staircase vanished the moment she stepped onto the white sand. Whistling she continued into the rain forest. The deeper she walked the more her whistler became a wordless song, which drew the monsters to her.

First appeared a demon-like creature, then a cat with a coelacanth tail, a legged eyeball, then a serval with multiple heads.

The monsters of Michel's short-lived realm had been spread across the globe, but had vanished along with his tower when the fossil had been destroyed. All, except for the strongest.

"Hey there, Nidri. Caibu, did your eggs hatch yet?" She wished she could understand their answers, which came in chirps, barks and yelps. Many of them were smart enough to understand her questions, some had even learned to nod in reply, like Caibu did right now. "I'd like to see then."

To her surprise, the serval's multiple heads all shook _no_.

"Is something wrong?"

It was _no_ again, yet all the monsters around her turned frantic a moment before all flooding in one particular direction. Seira ran after them as well as she could, given the rough terrain. They led her into the darkest areas of the forest and Seira grew a little worried despite the monsters having assured her otherwise. What could get them so excited?

She considered a few things, the most ominous being a surprise expedition of scientists that they'd trapped here. Trying to deal with curious humans would be a huge problem, seeing as memory wiping magic was not readily available. Less worrisome was the arrival of some magical creature, like that lost rainbow serpent a few years ago.

She wasn't expecting _that_.

Curled between the clawed legs of acheetah and walrus blend was a four winged angel, fast asleep.

"Michel?"

The monsters around her weren't frantic anymore and quietly surrounded the small clearing. A few smaller ones crawled towards Michel and looked at her expectantly. It had been long since she'd been surrounded by such silence.

She wanted to call out his name and see him awake, but she restrained herself. If he needed sleep half as much as she did, then let him have it. Ironically, she herself wouldn't have any sleep, excitement drowned out Morpheus.

That, and she had no idea what to say just yet.

Eleven years had passed since she had seen Michel, with only Michal there to give her some hint of how he was doing. Across the years, the soul that those two shared had them know what the other felt and Michel had even visited Michal as a spirit to watch over her. In the absence of telepathy, the most Michal could do was pass some vague well wishes between them.

Meeting him again was something Seira had never stopped hoping, but she had imagined it differently. It seemed out of character for him to _not_ make a dramatic entrance. Though, it could be argued that trying to destroy the world _also_ was out of character for him. The real Michel — well, the real personality of clone Michel — could be quite different.

Once, he'd been a combination of overwhelming despair, childish blindness, excessive arrogance and neglected kindness, all flavored with Fuku's manipulations and Doctor Amagi's maddening drugs. The kindness was the truest, she was sure, but she was a little anxious about the rest.

The monsters around seemed as excited as her, but also ill at ease, as if unsure what to make of his presence. Michel himself didn't appear very peaceful either. She could see his restlessness in the jerks of his eyelid and his clenched hands.

While wondering whether he had a nightmare, she reached out to brush away the hair before his face.

The golden band around his forehead was gone and those around his arms had been replaced with simpler curly ones. Only the ear- and neck rings remained as they were, as far as ornaments were concerned. He looked a little less like the emperor now, but only a little. He couldn't erase his features, much like Seira couldn't shed Sara's legacy.

Her hand drifted to his shoulder and she softly shook him. It took him a moment to wake up.

"When you said we'd meet again, I had hoped it wouldn't take a decade," she said with a warm smile.

He startled awake, wings flaring out and accidentally poking the walrus-cheetah in the eyes. Seira just leaned her face on her hand and chuckled, while Michel whispered an apology to the monster.

"Hello, Michel. You've sneaked onto my island and slept here, won't you at least greet me?"

He quickly sat up, one knee on the ground. He bowed his head to her.

"Forgive me, princess, I was not told it was your island. I would have asked for permission if I had known. I ...uhm ..."

So much for arrogance, she was pleased to notice. Had he ever learned how to greet people he wasn't astrally linked to?

"It's alright, Michel. They are your creatures, you have every right to visit them. It's not my island really, I only supervise. Lucia gave it to the monsters and placed a magic fog on it to ensure it would not be found. In fact, I'm surprised you found it."

He raised his head again, but didn't directly look at her.

"Once I got into the atmosphere, I could hear them call me. I only had to follow," he said with a dim smile. "You took care of them well. That makes for another thing that I owe you for."

"As far as I am concerned, you owe me nothing. I've forgiven you. Though, I might like an answer. Why did it take so long for you to visit earth again?

His smile turned into a cynical smirk. "The Ancients thought I was ... too angsty for my own good."

Seira couldn't help but laugh at the way he said it. "You're here to learn how to be happy."

"Essentially, yes," he said with a bit of a bitter tone. Seira recognized this well, it was Michel's way of building a fortress around what he couldn't handle : smile wickedly and speak with condescension and anger of it. She ignored the chill that it gave her.

"Why didn't you come to meet us right away? Surely you know where our palaces are?"

"I didn't feel ready. What right do I have to barge into any of your lives?" And just like that, his tone could change. "I wasn't sure whether I would descend, and I still am not, but I heard your song and Michal urged me to follow it."

Seira smiled nervously. The truth was that Michal had called her in the middle of a desperately needed night of sleep. She might have said that if she hadn't been sick of even thinking of stress and drab reality. A " _your soul symbiote rang me out of bed and I had to surface to empty a bottle of Cola in order to stay awake while having no idea why I was supposed to sing_ " angle was rather less mystic than the assumed " _I just felt you needed it_ ". Time to quickly change subject.

"So, what about that other apocalypse a few years ago, do you know any of it?"

"Fuku. You noticed it?"

"The fiery rain of comets was hard to miss even below the sea," she said, a frown appearing at the memory. Crap, there it was already, the inevitable fact that Michel too had once tried to destroy the world. A silence fell.

What do two people who once were evil overlord and heroic princess talk about once they got past the point of formalities? Seira had longed to see Michel again, but now he was here and everything had already been said ... what was she supposed to do now?

That was such an irritating question. Seira decided for a _better_ change of subject.

"Now that you're here, what would you like to do?"

"I have no idea," he said hesitantly. Dear Aqua Regina, there was the need again to help him.

On impulse, she took his hand and pulled him to his feet.

"If you don't know, then come on. I'll give you something to tell to your family."

She led him not too far away, up and down a few hills. The beasts followed in their trail, except the largest who had to stay behind due to the increasingly thick undergrowth. Seira held Michel's hand loosely and eventually dropped it to push aside greenery. This revealed another clearing.

"I've wanted to build a storm shelter for the little ones, but found no forces that could work on land. I've been using teleportation to bring things up, but it's not ... oh well, you'll see. It's not very good."

Michel stepped into the clearing, folded his arms and wasted no time with his judgment : "Well, princess ... when I arrived her, I thought my monsters had been playing with a ruin. It's horrible. This needs to be started from scratch."

Though she hadn't been expecting a positive opinion, it still stung as he said it so bluntly. For as far as she could see though, Michel didn't seem to be aware he might have hurt her feelings.

"So, I take this to mean you want my advice?"

"Well, you had this huge, amazing tower with complicated arches. What I ask for here is a simple shelter for the animals here. How can I achieve it without it collapsing on anyone? All I have to work with is my staircase, but I don't think I know how to use it fully to build."

"I don't think you can do anything. Building is more than stacking rocks. You don't have the knowledge." Michel said while setting a finger against what was meant to be a pillar. Pushing only a little caused it to collapse already.

A thin cloud of dust burst from the merrily collapsing structure and spread all around them. The monsters fled to the trees and Seira took a few steps back too, coughing. But Michel only stretched his wings and waved away the dust.

"Stay back, princess." he said as a different kind of smirk crept onto his face and he took out his flute. At command of his mere will, several black whips snaked out of the tip. Seira ignored her second chill and focused on keeping the animals at a safe distance.

Her suspicions on what Michel intended were affirmed when he jumped to the sky and used the whips to gather and rearrange the boulders. How he could get the chunks of stone of the ground, that she didn't get. With only a magical instrument and his wings he sculpted and rebuilt, never losing his elegance. Quite the contrast to her struggling with her staircase and hands. Yet he had felt so light when she had pulled him up.

How curious, was this just because Michel had inherited the powers of the Emperor, or were all Ancients this strong? Maybe Gaia had gotten rid of them because they were _too_ powerful for the ecosystem, though she couldn't see how the humans kept it in balance much better.

Such thoughts filled her head as she watched in fascination. It took him a little under half an hour to conjure up something inhabitable, and then there stood a vaguely Greek styled shelter, open at one side with windows in the others. A second store was atop for climbers and flying monsters.

Seira was about to jump up and give him a hearty thank you, but Michel landed more or less like falling down. She jumped up to run to him instead. Before his knees gave way she set her arm under his shoulder and top wings. Carefully, she helped him to a nearby patch of moss.

"I'm sorry, if I had known you were low on energy ... I should have known that." she whispered as knelt down before him while giving herself a mental kick.

Michel had his eyes closed and a hand at his head, breathing heavily. He remained like this for a while and Seira decided to send off some of the animals to gather fruit. But when they returned, he declined the offers.

"I'll be alright soon. I haven't done anything like this in ages, I just ..."

"I think you need to lie down."

"I just haven't figured out yet how to recharge properly on this world. At full power, I could have done this by will alone." he said in a tone quite similar to the child that refuses to go to bed. Seira considered pushing him down just briefly, but that seemed awfully rude.

"Well, you don't seem to be at full power. Just lie down here, the moss is soft."

"I'm just fine, I already slept a lot." he objected again and tried to stand up.

Oh, he was just asking for it. Seira was behind him in seconds and took hold of his wings.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

She only smiled and tipped him backward, making sure he didn't hit his head on anything along the way. The sudden motion caused a wave of dizziness in Michel, and he didn't try to get up again. Seira pulled loose a few pieces of moss and positioned them under his head, then she stood up and gathered the fruit together. She set it aside of the make-shift bed and ordered : "You eat these once you can sit up."

"You always tried to take care of me." There, that cynical expression again. "I wonder why."

"Because."

At that moment, a few more beasts arrived with food. Before Michel could object to her reply, she was off to explain them they had gathered enough now. Once she returned, he had closed his eyes. Satisfied, she sat down aside of his wings and breathed out. Time to enjoy the quiet.

From there she watched the monsters explore the new shelter, an amusing sight as they immediately began decorating it with plants and moss. Almost as if they were at the start of sapience and developing a culture, like the ravens who would bring grass to the corpses of their family.

Sometimes she'd look aside, but the only movement about Michel were the bits of sunlight swaying back and forth as the wind touched the trees. That someone could remain perfectly still for so long, despite being awake. It made her quite sleepy herself, and for once, he mind was at ease enough to admit to it.

But when she was just about to doze off, Michel opened his eyes again and asked a rather unexpected question.

"What is _your_ history?"

"My history? Not much you don't know already." she said, while quietly apologizing to her brain for the canceling of sleep.

"Not much? You know me better than I know you. I'd like learn something too."

Seira didn't think there was much to tell that would be relevant to him, but ... oh well.

"Alright then. There's not much though. I came into existence eight years before we met, when Sara forsook the throne of the Indian Ocean. A new orange princess is created the moment the former ceases to be, but due to the unusual circumstances with Sara not being dead and still possessing the orange ocean powers, I could not be born into the real world. The energies of the ocean did not start to gather till after she officially abandoned the throne, when she joined Gackto in his seal.

I was together with all the other little mermaids until then. Off course, they all left as their energy increased, and mine didn't because Sara was still alive and a princess. Aqua Regina always visited though, so I wasn't lonely. Didn't get much of a chance to grow either, though. Then I was given into Lucia's ward and she learned me many things about friendship and hope ... sort of like my mother. And then ... you came."

"So where's the rest of the story?"

"You know what happened."

"Only up until the moment where we parted ways."

Seemed like when Michel was actually _out_ of his mental fortress, he had reasonably sharp eyes.

"Well, off course I went on to rule the Indian Ocean. Being a princess isn't all that wonderful, but you've been told that already long ago. Let's just say there's more problems than only a prohibition to fall in love with humans and that it won't make for a very interesting story."

Socially challenged as he was, Michel didn't get the hint.

"So what _exactly_ is going on?" he said as he sat up again.

"There's no point talking about."

"You know what happened to me because I closed off."

"Michel, drop it! Not all trouble on minds is emotional. I just come here to relax!" she snapped.

Promptly two dozen eyes focused on her. The animals weren't familiar with an aggressive Seira, only knowing her kind, sometimes tired self. Michel wasn't familiar with it either and seemed quite startled. Seira felt a little guilty, he might have thought she kept it to herself so he wouldn't over-exhaust himself trying to fix it. But this wasn't a problem that would be fixed with physical effort. Hopefully not.

"I'm sorry. The Ancients always urge me to talk about what's on my mind instead of ignoring it. I didn't think —"

"Mine isn't a crop-up problem." she affirmed, but her tone was gentler now.

"I'm sorry." he said again, more like trying to remind himself.

"Let's not make saying that a habit between the two of us, alright?"

"I didn't know what —"

She held up a finger. "Here's a pointer. If someone smiles and says _let's not make this a habit_ , it means they already forgave you."

He blinked, then showed a weary smile. "I've seen people live on the world, but ... they're right, I need to learn a few things." He didn't sound convinced of his ability to succeed.

"Yes, ... my turn to be blunt : you really have a lot of catching up to do. I think you're going to have to stay for a few months at least, because there's a lot I need to teach you."

"That was an invite?"

"You bet." With that, she stood up. "The sun is lowering, and I need to return to my kingdom. But I will be back tomorrow. So, do you take my invitation?"

"I will, princess." He nodded with an expression that mixed gratefulness and some sort of affection. She'd seen that face before, and she had missed it.

"Oh, and ... please don't call me princess. I am Seira."

**· · · · · · ·**

The Orange Princess of the Indian Ocean less than eloquently dropped her forehead on the monstrous piece of paper that greeted her on return. A small thud sounded on the makeshift desk, and a few bubbles rose from her lips.

Eleven years and the fairytale castles were returning to the Indian ocean, but there weren't enough people to inhabit them.

After the defeat of Fuku, things had seemed to head towards the good ending. Seira had taken upon her the task of uniting her scattered kingdom and rebuilding its ruins. Well, sort of. Sea Monks and Jormungand had come from the far Northern Atlantic Ocean, curtsy of Rina, they had dealt with the brunt of the heavy work. Lucia and Coco had sent a few Liopleurodons and Megalodons to assist as well.

Now, every kingdom had suffered casualties from Gackto's and Michel's attacks, but that of the Indian Ocean had been without government longest and had very little left to build on.

Social structures had rotted away and the residents of the kingdom had scattered in small tribes across the Indian Ocean, each building their own little societies in order to survive. Some had flat out refused to rejoin the kingdom, skeptical of the system that elected their princess.

_"We will choose our own leader, not someone who rules by right of birth or power, but by wisdom."_

She hadn't acted quick enough back then, inexperienced as she was. Letting it be instead of proving it was safe to return had affirmed their opinions. Some of these tribes had chosen rather ... radical leaders who were winning water quickly. Actual conflict had not yet occurred, but there was an invisible veil across the Indian mermaids. The prospect of political factions tearing apart the once peaceful oceans frightened Seira, for the human world had shown her what this could mean.

The fairytale existence of the mermaids could be a bittersweet one, as in the case of Rina and Hanon who had given up their loves to return to their kingdom. Still, when trouble brewed there was the solution of sealing away or winning the enemy over to your side through the power of song : a simple world of monsters and mermaids.

But here, there were no enemies, only people with a different opinion. Nor could she sing a song to unite them, for they were quick to point out that love and acting on feelings could be just as destructive as it could be restorative.

_"Look at what Sara did because of the sort of dreamy love you speak of! Keep your fancy words to yourself, we won't be misguided by them!"_

Dark monsters and demonic possession, loneliness and betrayal, sure, that's when mermaid songs did miracles. But in the face of calculated cynicism they were casually brushed off. A harsh day comes when you are an idealistic mermaid and you learn that some things are just too logical to be affected by your magical song. Luckily, throwing things was nearly impossible in the water and there were no tomatoes here anyway.

The scroll before her was a demand for a territorial barrier. So close to her eyes the letters were a blur, and she deeply wished they could be just that : an inky blotch on paper with no further meaning. But this was the truth. Her own people wanted to divide the kingdom, not unite it, and she had no idea what to do about it.

**· · · · · · ·**


	3. Illumination

**· · · · · · ·**

Switzerland, a land of cuckoo clocks, banks, cows, mountain goats, cheese, traditional folk dance and melting mountains.

In these mountains was a valley, and in this valley was a mansion not as old as it looked. Its security guards were well paid, professional and partially informed; they never asked questions when Seira managed to pop up at the most unlikely places, such as this resort that could only be reached by two weeks of hiking (if the weather allowed) or helicopter, and now it was winter and there had been no helicopter in the past three days.

Seira slipped in and found herself at the edge of a party.

It was a rather formal affair, with less festivity and more penguin outfits than she preferred. Socialites, as they were called, had gathered in Licht's mansion to perform a grand total of nothing. In her idol form, she could easily walk into the chamber and pass for another eloquent rich lady, though she still got an odd stare here and there.

It didn't take long to find Licht. He nodded with a smile and excused himself from his company to join Seira in the hall.

"Seira, good to see you. How are you doing?" Licht said once the door had closed behind.

"Great!" she said too enthusiastically.

Licht smiled knowingly and didn't comment on the lie.

"I wish you wouldn't do this so often. There already are rumors about who that mysterious orange lady is who always pops up in my company, yet never gives a name."

"I'm sorry, but you're in these parties so often. Is it really a problem?"

"Oh, I just stick with _another eccentric relative of mine_. They started to buy it after getting to know Michal better. Now I'm the genius orchestra director with the freak family." he said lightly. "So, what are you here for?"

"I have a surprise for Michal."

"Oh dear. There are no walruses involved, right?"

"Don't worry."

"Up the stairs. She claimed the attic."

**· · · · · · ·**

That panthalassa woman, she must have named Michal after the emperor. To think that such a simple gesture of love would lead her husband onto a trail of atrocities. Michel thought it was perhaps the most tragic aspect of the whole ordeal.

They shared one soul, though he wasn't exactly sure what a soul was. Definitely not something to be used as it had been, but here they were, Michel and Michal.

The moment she and Seira emerged from the trees, he saw something was not quite right.

The physical Michal was older than the astral form which tended to visit him, that much he already knew from his visits in the past. But now she walked right next to young Seira, the contrast was glaring. Michal was in her thirties, even though she _should_ be only look 25 at most.

Seira called for him once she reached the clearing above which he waited. With a deep breath, Michel descended.

Michal wondrously looked on when he landed before them. She avoided his eyes and seemed more fascinated with his wings than anything.

"So, you are my other half. Michel." she said strangely. She felt his nervousness, yet was somehow unaffected by it. Once it had been so easy to control what her emotions were, but now she seemed like possessing a wall that he could only wish for.

She just watched him, didn't say anything. Michel was grateful when Seira broken the silence with an uncertain "uhm".

"I'm glad to finally meet you. I'm not sure what do now. What do you think about meeting me?" Michal dryly said.

"This isn't the first time I've seen you." he whispered.

"So what my brother said is true? You've been watching over me?" she said suspiciously. "You're not stalking me, are you?"

"No ... I just come when I feel something is amiss."

"Ah, we do share an empathic bond? Is that _your_ Manic Depression I've been suffering?"

"... probably. I came here to get rid of it." Great, he wasn't just bother the Ancients with it, but Michal too.

"I didn't meant to blame you." she said with a hint of regret.

Michel noticed something that had always eluded him when he visited, but now he could pinpoint it : her tone of voice and expression did not support her words. Like something was lacking, ... sincerity. This conflicted greatly with what the _feeling_ that emanated from her, she meant what she said. So why didn't she _look and sound_ like it?

"We came here to say hello. Also I hoped you would have a solution for Michel's problem : he has trouble tapping into the earth's energy to sustain himself." Seira said.

"Oh, off course! Come along to my laboratory." Michal said and turned around, back to the mansion. She didn't look Seira in the eyes either.

Seira laid a supportive hand on Michel's arm and said :"She's always like this. Don't take it personal."

Nothing special. Everything wrong. That was the best way Michel could describe this. Coming face to face with Michal again was something that played out very differently in his mind. More dramatic. He had hoped for forgiveness and been ready to decline it, and he had feared rejection and hatred. This cold reception, tinted only by a detached fascination on Michal's behalf — she wanted to have wings too — was more disheartening than either setting could be.

He sighed and walked after Seira when she went before him.

Going to that laboratory was easier said than done. A large field surrounded the terrace on which the party had spread, they had to take a detour to avoid beind seen. Then there was the security guard, who insisted on inspecting Michel.

"Oh come on, he's a freaking angel!" Michal said as she pulled open one of the wings. "In fact, he _is_ me! I can feel that he's not up to something!"

"Irrelevant. Whatever alter ego you may possess could still hold malicious magic."

With no other choice, Michel suffered through the whole deal with a furious expression.

The attic was reached by a small spiral staircase, that led to a chamber devoted to both science and magic.

Buzzing tubes with giant glowing DNA strands — eerily familiar to Michel — and an aquarium with mutant fish was at the center of the room. Charts were pinned to the walls detailing skeletons of mystical beasts and marking how magic streamed through them. Glowing fungi were behind glass, teeth of beasts like the Chupacabra and horns of Al Miraj adorned the walls, some were wired to strange instruments.

Yet despite the dim light and bizarre content, the room smelled strangely sterile and soapy, where one might have expected something herbal or bloody. A world apart from the society below, yet somehow just as detached from reality.

"Michal invents a lot of things for us," Seira explained, "Licht tried to encourage her in getting hobbies, and much like her dad, she knows her science. I'm pretty sure she can fix your problem."

"Yep, I am the Team Geek now! Have a seat!" she said with a maniacal grin and dove into a small second chamber, where she started rummaging.

Obviously accustomed to this situation, Seira pulled one of the rotating chairs closer and placed the back forward, so that she could lean on it with her arms. Michel looked around, realized a rotating chair might cause accidents here with his wings and opted to sit on the ground, wings folded tightly.

"So, what exactly can you do?" he asked.

"Much! Now I'm not ill like the first Michal, but I _am_ low on magic. Therefore, I developed a way to help me tap into the magical energies of the world. I'm just looking for ...ah, got it!"

She emerged from the room holding a cylinder with glowing content. This she brought to a table with a twisted alchemical set — it involved bones, ornamented stones and a DNA strand at its center — where she went to work.

"Are you alright with us watching?"

"I never minded you watching, Seira. You are quiet. And Michel more or less is me too. He _can't_ invade my privacy. ... and he apparently hates it that I consider this soul share situation like this. Hm ... I guess on a biological level he's more like the son of me and the fossil."

Michal wasn't asking hundreds of questions because she long since had understood the technical details and formed her opinions. She was almost separated from it, like she was from him and the world she was supposed to live in. Speaking as if he wasn't even there, or rather, as if he didn't need to be addressed. He felt excluded despite being present, a feeling apparently so familiar to Michal that she barely regarded it. But it wasn't like the former Michal, who felt like she was only in the way and unloved by anyone. This new Michal simply thought it was natural.

He wondered what had happened to the girl so desperate to be loved.

She sensed his questions and though she didn't know their detail, she irritably rebuked to the one thing she caught : "I'm not _that_ Michal."

"I know, you're —"

"No, I literary am not that Michal. She's dead. I had a separate youth and developed into a new person. On top of that ..."

The child in a woman's body slid her chair to a nearby desk, pulled out a paper and threw it over her back. Michel caught it. On it were various scribbles, and in the center something vaguely resembling a brain.

"... even if I have the same genes, my body is different. I can be happy that Aqua Regina knew the biological difference between growing old and maturing, otherwise I'd be in a far worse state. But still, growing up in acceleration causes brain disorders since the human brain is programmed to expand in a specific way across six, seven years. The _time_ I lived wasn't sped up off course, but the expansion of my brain _was_ sped up. What should take six years took only three months and what took 25 years took 9 months. I'm not what people would call sane." she explained methodically.

"You don't —" He was going to say she didn't seem insane, but as soon as she recognized his question she became enraged. She showed none of it though, just continued working.

_People say._

"Chronologically, this Michal is 11 years old. My brain has started pruning as it should at this age, but my frontal lobes are also becoming active, which should only be happening around chronological age 20-25. Physically, I'm like 33 or so. I remember things from before — like language — but I do not have the memories of that life with me. Maybe they will come back, but since my brain is different already I will never be the same Michal as before. Actually, I don't want to be ... Michal did such selfish things. Come on! I ... she risked all life on the globe just to be together with a boy who didn't even want her!"

This gave Michel quite a shock. He had sent away Lady Bat, Lanhua and Alala to be reincarnated as well and be happy ... what if they too had ended up like this?

"Michal ... I had three servants, Lanhua, Lady Bat and Alala. Do you know anything about them?"

"It's really not quiet while I'm working." she muttered irritably and put down her tools. "No, I know nothing of them. Why would I? Hmmmm ... Alala? Ha, he named her after the Allele, a type of genetic locus. Fully spoken, it's allelomorph, meaning _other form_. Lady Bat, Lanhua and Alala : _Fauna, Flora_ and _Other_. Father was running low on ideas, no?"

"Michal, this is serious! What if this happened to them too? I need to find them!"

"I know. Now be quiet, please. I'll solve your problem first." she said with a quiet backing of _I mean it_.

She added the glowing golden fluid to a soft silver type and stood up to get some long herbs. These she handed to Seira with instructions to weave them as she had learned, then she left the room.

Carefully Seira braided together the magic of the plants, physically and energetically. A quiet art that Michel recognized from a distant memory not his own. He was about to ask her why and how she had learned that, when Michal returned. She carried the last vial she needed and when she added it to the liquid in the chemistry set, he no longer needed to ask.

"I'm not wearing that thing." Michel promptly declared.

"Oh so stubborn. Yes, you will wear it, lest you wanna be low on lifeforce all the time, or go back up." Michal said with a grin typical to mad scientists.

Seira held out the finish circle and Michal enchanted it with a few ancient words, causing it to hover in the air. She then took the liquid holder from its placed and poured it out right through the center of the circle.

The small waterfall broke into little drops as it crossed the horizon and attached itself to the circlet. Once the last bit was out, Michal set away the holder and started to shape the circle with her fingers. As if it were wax, a slightly uneven halo emerged.

Once done, she placed it in the air above the head of Michel, then pulled out a large mirror from a cavity in the wall.

"It looks ridiculous. Halos are for little sirens. Couldn't you choose another form?"

"But you already wear more jewelry than the average woman, a little more shouldn't bother you," Michal argued.

"This is the toned down version, actually," Seira giggled.

Well, maybe it was fitting for him to be degraded like this, he thought. But then he looked in the mirror and remembered it was the face of the emperor too, and seeing it with a halo felt like desecrating the image of — Michal bent forward so that her face blocked the reflection.

"You'll wear it cause otherwise Seira is going to borrow you her energy and that'll make you feel even more guilty," the woman whispered. Michal perhaps felt what he felt, she didn't know of the reasoning behind it.

He grabbed the halo and tossed it away angrily, he'd find another way to build up energy. Too late did he notice Michal's alarm.

Upon impact with the nearby wall, the halo promptly exploded. A shower of rock, plastic and glasses fell over them, causing Michel to instinctively raise his wings for protection. A cloud of chemical fumes escapes till the air was filled with odd odors, grassy gas and sparkles. Beyond that, a big hole in the wall and floor, with the halo floating indecisively in the air.

Michel lowered his wings and looked at the destruction, considering that maybe he did like it after all.

"You are an impulsive idiot," Michal dryly said as she shook some splinters off her sweater.

Down below, Licht nervously smiled and reminded his guests that his little sister was interested in science. They nodded with understanding, for everyone had heard that the sister of the famous Licht Amagi was a odd case.

**· · · · · · ·**

Michel still refused to wear it and managed to attach the halo to the end of his flute, while Michal was quick to work him and Seira out of her laboratory before she commenced restoration.

Seira led her to one of the rooms on the lower floor, she found Michal's rather quickly : it was marked childishly as a _No Entrance_ zone.

"Once her laboratory's cleaned up, she'll be fine again. So, will you try it out?" Seira said, pointing at the halo.

"I'm not sure how to operate it, but I do feel it attracting some energy ... " he muttered, distracted by the surroundings.

This wasn't much like old Michal's room either. All around were shelves and bookcases, filled with worn-down things like encyclopedias, photos, and memorabilia, some of which he recognized from before. But during his astral visits he had never truly looked.

Michal had amassed a treasure of evidence that she had been alive. Sea shells and fossils, cheap plastic trinkets and many, many faces on the photos. Few were of recurring people, these were not frames of friends, but of people she had briefly encountered, admired and aided. From scarce water in deserts to frozen peaks to deep in the rainforests and the concrete of cities. As diverse as her journeys were, so diverse were the faces she had captured. The only recurring trait was that they all seemed happy.

"She's trying to atone," Seira gently said. Walking to one of the shelves, she took a small clay statue that seemed made by inexperienced hands.

Just then, the door opened. There was Licht, frozen as he saw the angel.

"What are _you_ doing here?" he asked coldly.

"He came down from the celestial realm to learn how to be less of an angsty wreck," Michal said as she entered shortly after, having heard him come up the stairs, "And he came here to fix his energy problem. I made a halo for him, like mine. He shouldn't be tossing it though."

With little care, she pushed past Licht into her room, again didn't look at anyone and disappeared into a second chamber and began rummaging again.

"What about that second end of the world a few years ago?" Licht demanded.

"That was only Fuku," Seira said.

The man relaxed, but only a little.

"Would you like some tea?" he said as formal and distant as he could possible manage, "She is making it already anyway."

And indeed, soon Michal emerged from her own little kitchen with a tea tray and cookies. Carefully she set it on a table in another side chamber of her main one and simply disappeared back up the attic. Licht still stood in the door and hadn't moved nor changed his expression, but once Michal was gone, he said, "Now that I finally can understand her, she physically changed into something that lacks ... I don't what to do with this."

He didn't say it, but Michel could hear the bitterness clear in his voice. Whether it was for his father or for the angel, that he couldn't tell. But Licht made no remark to dispel the notion that it was the latter.

_You're a monster. Give me back Michal._

These words were engraved clearly in Michel's memory, as was everything of that day.

"Michal prefers doing things alone, so Licht always gives her a miniature apartment where ever they live," Seira explained in an attempt to break the icy atmosphere. It didn't work.

"Seira, next time you have surprises, I'd appreciate it if you informed me of them ahead of time. Guests like these —"

"Licht, listen. You have a good enough reason to not like him. But he was a victim too. It doesn't excuse what he did, but it does mean he can change. And being a distant jerk doesn't suit you. Loosen up, please," Seira pleaded.

"No, it doesn't suit me. I would be just as fine if I had not turned out this way. But I can't _not_ feel like this. You know what is going on, Seira. Could he help, or would he bring even more trouble?"

Michel had heard enough. "I think I'll leave."

But that was easier said than done : Licht still blocked the door, and Michel couldn't just squeeze through, given his wings.

"Sit down," Licht ordered, "Michal made tea, and we're going to drink it."

They retreated into the outer chamber, which was the only part of her rooms that truly looked like the girl's room Michal once had had : soft, pastel and light.

On the table stood apple tea and sand cookies, plus three cups. Licht sat down first, while Seira helped Michel navigate his wings without knocking something over. Nobody used chairs in the celestial spheres, only ever sitting on the ground. That was no option here.

By the time Michel had figured out how to sit in the chair without hurting his wings, Licht had already drank half his tea. He waited for Seira to sit down before he spoke :

"Do you know why those people below are here?"

"... no."

"Mermaid songs evoke powerful feelings, right? I've started to use my music to enchant the audience. They love me to unnatural levels and I've gained all the fame and money I need to keep Michal safe. It's no longer music just for the sake of art, it's power and deceit as well. And I don't care that it is. Michal won't be taken away a second time."

"Keep her safe? What for? I'm not —"

"They noticed. I had to take Michal to a doctor, and they did a lot of basic stuff — measuring height, weight — The doctor contacted a colleague we had visited elsewhere. He apparently was curious at how Michal's ailment had suddenly disappeared ... that's when he found out she was ten centimeters shorter than she should have been. He called others, they all had the same measurements that said she should be taller at that point. That's when the problems started."

As Licht went on to explain, Michel's little apocalypse had for once and for all affirmed the existence of magic. A previously sober world that believes only what they saw now had their eyes _closed_ , and so they could hear signs of what they didn't see. Now there were people willing to think about the strangeness, and these often were the people driven by fear.

The first sign had been an abduction attempt as Michal walked somewhere. It might have been a coincidence. And then it happened again. And again.

"It didn't take long for the curious to figure out our father had been researching ancient races. He had once showed them the fossil of the real Michel, you know. They didn't believe him on base of how silly it looked. But now ... I've been doing my best to keep them away. I made sure the public knew I had a sister, so it would be more difficult to make her vanish ... I sent her to self defense class, paid an instructor to teach her how to use a gun, hired securities, I let her do all her charity missions so that she'd be seen ... but most importantly, I started rewriting the minds of people around me."

_This is your fault._

All this he said with harsh eyes on Michel and his words would grind like rocks down broken earth.

Michel felt he should speak, either to admit guilt or to somehow offer something to make up for it, but every word that presented itself echoed wrongly. To hear someone explain so plainly why your existence itself is the direct cause of suffering ... how many more people were dealing with the consequence of his choices?

For all the time he had sat still feeling unworthy and miserable, he could he done something to improve what he had destroyed. Was that why they had sent him down here?

The tea cup before him was getting cold and he hadn't taking a single sip yet. Seira and Licht were already done. Michel pulled it closer and looked at the reflection of the emperor, who had worked so hard for his people. He himself hadn't achieved anything good.

Almost he found the words to a promise, but Licht spoke first :

"I'd tell you to stay away. Having something like you hang around would increase the danger. But Michal wouldn't like it if I forbid you to come, so all I ask is that you are careful. Don't cause any more damage. Now if you'll excuse me, I have guests to attend to."

He left, but in the hallway he met Michal again. Seira and Michel still heard the words.

"What did you tell him, brother?"

"I just informed him of the situation."

"I can feel what he feels. He is even more down than before."

"Micha– what?"

"We have the same soul, remember?"

The door closed.

"I'm sorry, Michel. I had hoped he'd take it better and that Michal would have some time to talk to him before he came ... sorry." Seira sighed.

"There's nothing you need to be sorry for."

"Oh, there's plenty. But I guess you're right ... not for this. So, ... I'm sure sooner or later Licht is going to be directing a concert here. How about I see whether I can make an appointment with Lucia to find your friends, and we listen to the concert this evening?" Seira said it with so much spirit that she managed to draw a smile out of Michel.

"Alright."

**· · · · · · ·**

That evening, Licht held his open air concert on a stage at the side of the lake, exclusive for all his rich guests ... and also for an angel and a mermaid at the shores, hidden in the shadowy trees. Licht's magic did not affect them, but they could feel the ripples of its power.

Seira climbed a tree and called for Michel to sit down next to her. With some trouble and the sacrifice of an inconveniently placed branched, he managed to sit somewhat comfortable with his wings sticking out of the foliage.

"I guess you're used to bigger homes," Seira said as she carefully stood up and removed a few twigs from his feathers. In the little light that came from the far away stage, he could see the contours of her face. She tried to hide that she was sad. Michel wanted to help her too, but right now that seemed about as impossible as helping Michal.

Licht's concert started calmly, serenely, but gradually built up in power. Any ordinary music might have risked avalanches, but this never happened with Licht's music. The magic of this fact was part of what drew people in : Licht's music was so harmonious it made the mountains themselves silent, rather than dangerous. Or so it seemed.

"I wonder whether our music isn't as beautiful as the magic makes it appear to us," Seira wondered eventually.

"How so?"

"Lucia is tone deaf in her human form. Maybe she can't sing good in her mermaid form either, but we never notice due to the magic. Just like these people don't notice."

"I can hear what it sounds like without magic. It still sounds as it should," Michel said.

**· · · · · · ·**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lanhua is Chinese for orchid, hence equating her naming with Flora.


	4. Commerce

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Field trips gone technically right.

**· · · · · · ·**

"If you ever need anything else, drop by!" Michal called as they left. Licht smiled tensely, but also raised a reluctant hand to wave them goodbye. When the angel and the mermaid had disappeared entirely, Michal still stood atop the hill for a long time, staring into nothingness. Licht was wise enough to not ask her to come inside.

Seira's stairway led the through the beige clouds of a sunrise and soon took an almost horizontal slope. The mermaid herself had discarded her idol form and sported a tail again, slipping across the steps much like a snake would. The movement was mesmerizing and on top of being somewhat drowsy from the steadily increasing energy of the halo, this led to his unawareness of Seira's brief phone conversation, that and the wind's angle. Only when she stopped moving did he look up.

"You like my tail that much?"

"Uh ..." He then noticed the cellphone she held, in other words, the perfect excuse to change topic. "Are you aware of how damaging the radiation of those things can be?"

"Don't worry, it's a magical cellphone, like our idol microphones. Hanon's idea." She stored it in her hammerspace and continued, "I just talked to Kaito. Lucia is with Titania, Kadru and a bunch of other daughters of nature, they're having a four day conference. You know, eating cake and talking about citizens and magic. They've never been too sure where the Selkies belong, heh ..." She laughed lightly, but ended with a sigh. "Anyway, Kaito said he'll try to get in touch with her and perhaps she can meet us at the conference today."

"Have you told him?"

"No, he was rather curious why I suddenly wanted to find those them. To be honest, I didn't know what to say. Hi guys, Michel dropped out of the sky again?"

"I'm glad you didn't tell anything. I'd rather not meet them yet."

Seira frowned. "You'll have to. Lucia is your best chance at getting in touch with the former Aqua Regina, who will know where your family went. But also ... you may need her to back you up in case we meet others. Not everyone accepts your change of heart, or cares for it."

He looked away.

"Michel ... I just want to keep you out of trouble."

"I know, that's exactly why I want to avoid going there ... I'll talk to Lucia once she is away from the others."

Seira's face brightened up. "Wonderful! In that case, we'll only need to do a bit of a filler episode till then!"

"A what now?"

"It's a way of saying that we've got time to kill. I have an idea about where we can go and if you're worried about what people will think of you, this might actually help. But first ..." She raised her voice into a wordless hum and with a single elegant gesture spread the clouds apart, leaving the orange sky to reflect on the deep ocean. They were so high that they could see the horizon as a disc all around them. The continents were scattered at the edges, barely visible stripes; they were not high enough yet to see them flat.

"Have you ever learned the names of the lands?"

"Some, but I didn't care for it. The Ancients have names for the continents in their own ... our language, but that's about it."

Seira pointed to the west, where the sun's touch made the land clearest. "Africa." She came closer and tipped her fingers against the golden rings around his neck. "Did you know that over there, this tradition still exists in some cultures? But they use it to elongate women's necks, not merely as jewelry."

Then, she pointed to the east. "Australia. Like Africa, it holds a great deal of barren land, but there are less famine due to the different economical structure, though that will change if the refugee number is going to increase."

Finally, she pointed to north. "And there is Asia, and that is the tip India, the land my ocean is named after in human language. There I would like to take you, if you're alright with it?"

"Why not? As long as we've returned as soon as I can speak Lucia without getting a mob on my back."

"Great, then please sit down?"

"What? Why?"

"Oh come on, don't be so suspicious. It will be fun."

He reluctantly sat down, legs leaning over the white stairs. For a moment the magic faltered and he could feel the wind's icy cold, but then the stairs merged into a single path and took a deep spiral dive. Only Michel's single step remained while the path behind him dissolved. Laughing, Seira fell back and within a moment's notice had disappeared beyond the curve of the slide.

Somewhat reluctantly, Michel pulled up his legs, promising himself that the moment this would get undignified, he would simply fly. That moment came soon, as his step merged into the slide with a bump and he fell on his back, leaving his wings to stick out awkwardly in all angles.

By the time he arrived at the bottom, he was one disgraceful mess. The landing on a very poofy invisible cushion didn't help.

Seira already was on her legs and smiled as she asked, "And? Wasn't that fun?"

"No," he grumbled.

She was disappointed. Somehow, this was worse than his injured pride. But by the time he had untangled himself, it was too late to say anything about it.

They were in what seemed to be a cave, with dim magical light burning out of nowhere in particular. It was almost like a small house, full of stored sea treasures, baskets, a bed and a closet, which Seira mostly disappeared into. "Michel, can you turn that big basket there upside down?"

He did so and found it full of shells and makeshift jewelry. "I sell those," Seira said behind him. "See, sometimes I need money on land — Ah, got something your size after all!"

Seira appeared from her closet again and held out a stack of clothing. Around her was a pile of orange and golden clothing, scattered carelessly.

"I have a set of clothing for most countries that line my ocean and I can roughly understand most the languages," she explained. "Here, you can easily wear mine. You'd look more suspicious if you would try passing for a man, even your voice sounds female; the albino look is already going to draw enough attention as it is."

When Michel accepted the clothes, they changed colors to green, white and blue; Seira's magic so they would match his pastel coloration.

"What do you mean, I look like a woman?"

"Oh come on. Now just go change and hide your wings," Seira said before scooping up some clothes for herself and disappearing into another cave.

**· · · · · · ·**

The honking of horns was all about, stemming from a chaotic mixture of cars, trucks and rishkas. They walked past dirty kitchens, children played with makeshift toys and there was a market where the poor were rich to the sellers, and the buyers left poorer than they were before. The monsoon had been weak this year and it showed in every movement of the humans, from the few wealthy to the many beggars.

In the middle of this city stood a land mark of wonder and a painful contrast to the poverty. The Taj Mahal was am illusion of richness and devotion, the cost of a vain last wish. Seira and Michel reached a relatively quiet part of the city and from there they watched it.

"The Mughal empire was a time of great prosperity. Shah Jahan was a man of peace, twice he stopped his son Aurangzeb from invading other countries, but he is best known for the grave to his most beloved wife. Her death broke him and he built such a costly monument to indulge in the whims of someone not around to see it. I cannot admire anyone who prices their love over their kingdom. A long time ago I stood here with Rina and held this symbol in awe, but she pointed out just what it meant. He wasn't as bad as Sara, but ... strange, right? Such a good man, but not good enough to see his people above his wife."

Michel silently agreed, but he could sympathize a little more than Seira. Grief _hadn't_ driven Shah into a destructive frenzy, for all the failings.

" _Should a sinner make his way to his mansion, all his past sins are to be washed away. The sight of this mansion creates sorrowing sighs; and the sun and the mood shed tears from their eyes. In this world this edifice has been made, to display thereby the creator's glory_ ," Seira continued. "Those words were spoken by Shah Jahan. But you don't believe you can be forgiven, do you?"

"Well, definitely not by entering a _location_. Also, if it was to honor God, he would have spent the money elsewhere," Michel remarked as he kicked away a plastic bag on the ground. "Why are we looking at this thing anyway?"

"Because this evening, we'll enter its subterranean crypt to intercept a black market trade."

Michel turned to her sharply. "What do they trade?"

"Nagas. The Amagis aren't the only magical family who have problems with the fact that way more humans now believe in magic. In fact, Kadru is at that conference right now to find a place to evacuate her children to. India has become quite a prolific source of supposed magical medicines, and the naga are easy prey. They use them as pets, medicine or delicacies."

Michel's cold disdain turned into repulsion. It was moments like this when the feeling that he should have reformed the world were hardest to suppress, and the memory that he himself had once fed on sapient beings only helped build up a silent rage. Icily, he said, "Alright, I'll help. What do you know?"

"The traders have teleportation power and the managers of the area are in on it, that's about it. With as many visitors as the Taj Mahal gets, it was only a matter of time before another magical creature noticed what was going on below. Nobody —" she caught herself just in time. "I have no useful powers for this. Giving them ear pain _doesn't_ take away their ability to aim a gun at me, and I'm hoping you can provide distraction."

He nodded and didn't comment.

"Thank you! We may not be able to save all in the world, but if we can add even just a little happiness to anyone's life, it's good enough. But first, I'll have to find some things for make this basket more comfortable."

**· · · · · · ·**

The sun set, the visitors were made to depart. Once silence had fallen, a pale stairway briefly flicked in the sky, invisible to unbelieving eyes. Seira and Michel stepped onto the roof of the Taj Mahal, inhumanly quiet themselves. The evening air was still hot, but here a cool wind reached and Michel breathed in deeply, grateful that the city's stench was less thick here. Then he looked around and found he knew the language that appeared in calligraphy all across the place. He could only conclude that professor Amagi had known the language and had passed it onto him.

He turned to Seira to ask what she knew of the writing, but she was occupied with her basket, only her legs stuck out.

"Seira, it's probably large enough already."

"Yes, yes, but it doesn't hurt to make the inside a bit more wide, right?"

"Try not to hurt the laws of physics too much, they _bite_. I can know, I used to have a dimensional bubble where you could swim in the air. Maintaining it was a pain." He hadn't finished speaking or Seira yelped.

Muttering angrily, she crawled back up from the basket. "I'm a magical mermaid princess who can make stairways in the edge of dreamland, I assure you, physics only bite when I acknowledge their existence."

Michel smirked, less at Seira than the memory that long ago, when he had attacked Kaito and he had gotten lost at sea; Lucia had completely forgotten she could simply swim to Hawaii. Not exactly _fond_ memories, but nevertheless amusing. How much trouble those princesses could have avoided if they'd take physics a little more into account, like swimming over to their enemy and knocking the microphone out of their hands?

"Anyway, what's the point of these writings?" he said, pointing at the calligraphy all around.

"Oh, they are texts about judgment, if I recall correctly. I'm not sure why, I'd have expected tomb writings to be about hope, but well ..." she sighed. "Want to look around? According to my informant, the traders should only be here half an hour from now.

"I think I'll do that, if only to know the area if something goes wrong," he claimed. But in reality, he was curious. Spreading his wings, he made his way across the Taj Mahal, looking for the calligraphy.

_"Surely, with each difficulty there is ease"_

Optimistic thinking that he still had trouble accepting, but it _was_ right for as far as he knew. Hadn't the princesses told him this years ago? They had been born with everything, yet not. In retrospect, a lot of his motivation had been mere jealousy. Not, like he had always tried to tell himself, a pure desire to fulfill the will of God and save the Earth. God's will was the last thing he had been executing.

_"Therefore, as for the orphan protect him, As for the beggar, oppress him not, And as for thy Lord's favor, declare it."_

But maybe there had been some spark of truth in his claims. Though what he once had followed hadn't been a true commandment, the reasons why he followed them were something he still could believe in; to better the world. This gave him an idea. Their upcoming little mission would be dangerous, and he was fairly sure he had not lost how to do a bombastic entrance.

"Seira, I have an idea. How about we play this with a little fanfare?" he said upon return.

**· · · · · · ·**

The crypt was not particularly large and composed of only gray stone, crude compared to the elegant octagonal home of the cenotaphs above. The hunters had already arrived, given passage through a glowing blue door where once had been a wall. Their merchandise was a seemingly small number of naga, ... seemingly, since the naga were small : all children, they were easier to handle. In wooden crates with barely enough holes, many black snakes had been piled up. Ordinary snakes, till one realized their hisses concealed words that were pleading and fearful. It didn't matter. The hunters had long since grown immune to these weak voices.

There were three cages too within which more humanoid naga were on display, two whose upper bodies were that of children with snake where legs would be expected, and one who seemed human entirely save for her eyes and the thin blue scales. None of them seemed older than five and none of them seemed afraid like human children would be, their fear was not to be seen in expressions or tears. It was in the balls they had curled into, the perpetually wide open eyes standing black and the speed with which they responded to every sound.

Their captors waited, occasionally joking to hide their anxiety. This trade wasn't merely something they needed to conceal from the law enforcers, but from the crime world as well. After all, right now there wasn't much competition and they liked it that way. Hence their highly unusual trading point ... they had all the money needed to _share_ with those overseeing the monument, and the mutual benefit was secrecy. The traders weren't found out, and the maintainers could wash away the money loss of when long ago, when they had used many funds of the Taj Mahal's restoration process for other purposes. Back then, the global chaos had made it easy to put things under the cover. A decade later, it wasn't so easy anymore.

The wait was always longest, but today was worse than usual. The strange echoes they heard above were largely to blame and they made several calls to the Taj's supervisors. But every time were assured there could be no visitors, the area was officially sealed for "maintenance". The buyer was letting them wait too and the their magical door flickered strangely. They'd used it long enough to know this meant a fluctuation in the magical energies and so they expected a berserk naga to appear from it sooner or later. Those who considered closing it were told the noises came from above, and so the men argued about what to do.

Slowly the noises changed. A clear voice was formed and it told them one of the passages written here :

_"And you consume inheritance, devouring altogether, and you adore wealth with immense love. No! When the earth has been leveled — pounded and crushed — and your Lord has come and the angels, rank upon rank, and Hell on that day is brought, pulled by seventy thousand sets of reins, each set of reins by the hands of seventy thousand angels, as it groans and seethes in fury; on that day_ _man, the disbeliever, will remember his prodigal conduct in it, but how will remembering avail him_ _?"_

The voice seemed to come from all directions, but soon clustered together at the entrance of the crypt. Down came what at first appeared to be an albino lady with long hair, until the veils behind her folded open to reveal four feathered wings.

"Don't worry about the seventy thousand though, you'll only have me to deal with tonight," Michel grinned.

At least one of the men must have understood the language and cowered back in fear of divine retribution, but another simply pulled his gun and aimed. He shot, but his target was no human. Michel's eyes saw far more than those of humans could see within the same time and his speed superior. He shifted to avoid one bullet, and blocked another with a flute morphed into shield. With such little space he quickly came close to his targets, changed his flute back to its ordinary shape and forced out the black whips.

With one swift movement he had flown out of the crypt, dragging along the humans. In the hall above he finally had enough room for a decent fight, and with full force flung them against the wall. Hearing this, Seira promptly entered through her stairs and started opening the crates and cages.

"Don't worry, I've come to save you," she whispered in Sanskrit, hoping they would understand. The children cowered back, some snapped at her and scraped her skin open with their fangs. She ignored the stinging pain and very softly started to sing. It was just a whispered lullaby, and a poor translation at that, but it had all her compassion in it. The children calmed down and though distrustful, allowed her to pick them up.

Some struggled at sight of the basket, thinking of it as another prison. Seira first placed in the largest children, and it was their comfort won that led in the others. The insides were abnormally large for what only appears as a one meter tall weaving, and once they found it much larger and full of cushions and grass, they were more eager to get away from the stone and cages.

"I will bring you home soon," Seira promised at the end of her song and closed the basket. While space was warped inside, the weight was still the that of the number within and she could barely lift it up. With more than one deep breath, she managed to get it on the first step of her stairs and from there on decided it was time to invent the magical dream escalator. It worked.

She was about to vanish when a shot drew her attention to the crypt entrance and she feared Michel had been hit, but the fierce glow that came from above didn't falter yet. Another shot, now it dimmed for a second ... with all willpower she suppressed the urge to run up. If she herself got shot, things might only get worse. With the basket, she vanished to a safe location.

Michel had found an interesting way to use that halo. If he pulled in too much energy than he needed, it would expand. The light not only blinded his enemy, but affected the invisible currents around him to dizzying extents. They could not aim clearly, but he saw everything as sharp as he should. Once scrape across his arm only and a hole in his wing and he snatched away the first gun, absorbing it into the black tendrils of his flute. He kicked the man over and rapidly looked for the rest.

Two of the men had fallen to their knees, he thought they called for forgiveness, it didn't matter. The other two shot again, but the left gunman was tackled by one of the two prayers. Michel went for the last, staying at distance and once more using the whip to knock him over. He caught the gun and claimed it as well.

The sudden chaos came to a startling halt, and Michel became aware of himself again. The beating of heart was one thing, and he didn't understand why. There was the sound of injured and confused humans, and the last was the clapping of hands. To this he looked around frantically, then found a human standing in one of the doors.

This person was different from the traders, an old man who looked strangely friendly. The sort that hands out candy to children and needs help crossing the street, and somewhat stereotypically British. The man's gaze was used to a strange world, and held Michel's for a moment long enough to betray the angel's own tainted immortality. The man smiled, said something in foreign language.

It didn't matter. Michel turned away and whispered, "Seira."

The stairway appeared from the ceiling. This time Michel didn't walk it, but flew through the eye of the spiral. Only a few feathers remained in the trail.

**· · · · · · ·**

Seira released the naga children on her island. It was a temporary solution, but it would do for now. Michel's many monsters appeared from the bushes, investigating and welcoming the visitors, but he only paid attention to Seira as another text he had read haunted through his mind.

_"And when the female child was buried alive, it shall be questioned: for what sin she was killed?"_

The unborn Seira, waiting in the dreamspheres for her birth that should have come years ago. What kind of a monster had he been that he had not seen his own evil? She had been as innocent as could be and he had sacrificed her so simply. Oh, he could tell himself he wasn't like that anymore. Alright. But just the fact that he remembered didn't change that it had happened. Michal did something to make up for her past, and the more he thought the more it seemed ludicrous he had spent ten years feeling horrible about what he was, yet never _doing_ something. He hadn't changed much at all, he realized. So focused on his own suffering that he didn't see what was going on around. _I'm such a disgrace_ was a mere substitute for _I'm so miserable_.

Seira had sat down against a tree and yawned for the fourth time since arrival. She had only gotten a few hours of sleep after Licht's concert, and some in the afternoon of their day in India, but that helped her little.

"Seira, is there anything _you_ need help with?"

She looked up. "What do you mean? I'm fine, I just need to rest a little."

"You couldn't find anyone to help you build that shelter and you don't don't have any guard or warriors either to help you with things like that black market. Just where is your kingdom?"

"When did you get so sharp?"

"I just learning how to perceive," he said. "I've spent years above the earth, seeing nameless people fight each other over conflicts that shouldn't ever have seen their involvement, and people being abandoned where they needed help the most. We didn't watch below the oceans, but I can guess something is wrong when royalty is doing charity without any supporters."

"You learn well then. Yes, I have a problem in my kingdom. They don't want their leader to be someone who just happened the get the most of the ocean's energy. There's nothing to be fought, and no plague monsters to be defeated, if that's what you believed. I don't think you can help with this, Michel." She stood up. "Speaking of my kingdom, I'd better return."

Her stairway already started to shimmer before her and Michel quickly stretch two wings aside, blocking her way. "No. As a friend I'll tell you to sleep. You won't achieve anything when your worn down physically."

She smiled and shook her head. "That's another you need to learn, Michel. Sometimes it's more important to hold up an image of strength than to actually have strength. Right now, it may hurt matters more if it looks like I'm slacking off than whether or not I'm tired."

She gently pushed his wings aside and stepped onto her stairway and said, "But thank you for caring."

**· · · · · · ·**


	5. Eminence

**· · · · · · ·**

Here in the eternally midnight depth, the Aqua Regina's palace was a far cry from the fairytale palaces in the kingdoms above. There were no symmetric corners and the walls were grooved to prevent the powerful currents from wearing them down. It reminded Michel a little of his own tower, when it still had stood. Like that tower, this palace was outside of the world's reach; without mermaids or refined beauty. There were others creatures though, whom reflected the cast of time far better. Michel chose to approach a sea monk, for he had a face at least.

The creature led him inward, through a maze of tunnels to the central quarters. Artificial light came from fish with lanterns on their forehead, their empty eyes reflected from below towards Michel, then calmly went on their way. Inside the ocean was less wild, but ocean nonetheless. Coral and lobsters, jellyfish and true fish from all over the planet lived here in a climatic paradox, a small Eden hidden within the bowels of the earth.

So, it was all the more surreal when a white button shirt came fluttering by. For a moment it hovered before Michel, then it was off with renewed speed. A moment later a young man shot by, desperately pursuing it.

"As king of the seven seas, I command you to stop and be worn!" Kaito didn't even notice Michel when he rushed by.

The sea monk motioned him to follow and brought him to a small hall with a circular stone table at the center. If one substituted papers for shells and pens for little squids, it would appear as a messy office. And so it was, be in a Lucian style. There were even some cola bottles lying around; how she managed to drink those while underwater remained a mystery. The Aqua Regina herself lay curled up in the middle of this mess, the tip of her white tail in her arms and forming a spiral on the table. She smiled, but didn't quite look like Michel remembered her. She had bags under her eyes and looked shrill somehow, helpless. Most of all, still childlike despite having grown older.

Though the servant most respectfully shook her shoulder, Lucia woke with a startle. She groggily looked around and noticed her visitor.

"Oh, hello Michel!" she said with sudden cheer. "You really did come back!"

He nodded simply, while Lucia suddenly noticed the chaos around her and shamefully smiled. "I've not been able to sort a few things out. ... and, eh, why were you here again?"

"I've seen what the accelerated age did to Michal. How she acts and that it made her a target of some secret organization. I need to know whether the ones I sent to Earth are alright," he reminded her, wondering whether Seira had not explained everything or Lucia had forgotten. He suspected the latter.

"I know where the Black Beauty Sisters are, but your three friends? I'm really sorry, I have no idea," she said while swiping her desk clear with her tail.

"I was hoping you could contact the former Aqua Regina and find out where she brought them."

A proverbial light finally lit. "Off course! I can do that! But it may take long, I've never quite gotten a hand of the whole astral phone thing. But I promise you I will get it done! So, would you like something to drink?"

"No, thank you," he said while wondering how he would manage to accept a drink _underwater_. Underwater rivers could exist due to heavy water and salt concentrations, but he was fairly certain anything he'd try to drink would be washed away. Then again, there were all these bottles of cola.

"Anything else I can get you? Really, it's going to take a while, so you might just as well get comfortable. We even have a magical television set, and pillows and stuff," she said. "Oh, and would you like to meet my family? Just a few rooms down!"

Lucia battled with a few magical shells through which she left a message, then she led Michel through the halls. He heard young laughter as they came closer.

Being sub-aquatic creatures living on the seabed, mermaids had never needed much pigment to protect them against the sun. So it was quite curious to find that the new Pink Princess had chocolate brown skin for as far as her humanoid half was concerned.

"Her name is Anayis. I fiddled a bit with color. It's good against skin cancer, you know, if you live closer to the sun and there's a lot of sun on the Pacific Ocean. Plus, ethnic diversity is a good thing too."

"I'm pretty sure mermaids can't get cancer. You don't have bloodlines and genetic defects," Michel pointed out. "And you already have ethnic diversity in the coloration of your tails."

"Oh ... right. Well, I was thinking it would look odd to humans if we were only Caucasian."

The girl was about eleven years old, quite lively and currently braiding Michel's hair. It probably wasn't the right time to argue with Lucia about how adding a single token minority didn't fix much if it would ever come to introducing humans to her ocean. Michel decided to deposit that with the drinking-under-water question.

"Say, are you the Emperor of the Ancients now?"

"How would I be, when I know nothing of governing people? I'm just a copy."

"Oh... right. I'm sorry, it's just that I had hoped that you could give me some tips. I have to attend to this or that ..." Lucia looked pained, somehow. "There are no vacations to being the Aqua Regina. It's not a job, it's what I am."

Where Seira was controlled, Lucia seemed more lost about what to do. Michel tried to find something to say to her, but no words offered themselves up. At that moment Kaito came in, dragging along a chained shirt with a few hooks in it.

"Lucia, I was — Michel?" he stopped, surprised. For a moment, Michel feared a similar response as Licht, but Kaito instead grinned. "Took you long enough to show up again."

"I've heard that before. What's with that?" Michel pointed briefly at the trapped shirt.

"I don't know. Ever since there were no more villains, dramatic moments or loopholes in the surf dress code, this started happening. Whatever shirt I choose, sooner or later they desperately try to get off my body for no discernible reason," he said with a sigh. "But it could be worse. I once met a certain Prince Siegfried who kept losing his _pants_ and his wife thought it was hilarious. Mine at least helps me hunt my shirts whenever she can."

The little mermaid behind Michel giggled and whispered something about silly manga rules. Michel wondered whether Lucia had also fiddled with her imagination, though she might have a point. There certainly was some sort of reality dissonance between the past and the present, not to mention the world around. And before him : two ordinary people on the ground, fighting some bizarre law of the universe. Meant as the king and queen of the seven seas, yet they were less of royalty than they ought to be. Yet he did not mind, it made him feel less out of place. They were no more of the glorious rulers of the seas than he was of Emperor Michel.

The pink princess continued braiding his hair till Kaito managed to get his shirt on and strap it steady with a few ropes, and Lucia had explained why Michel was here.

"Lucia, we don't have an answering machine yet. You need to stay with the astral phone if you want to receive a message," Kaito said once she came to the final part.

"We don't?"

"Nope."

"I'll be ... uhm, not right back!" she called while racing to her office. Kaito looked at the pink princess and aimed after Lucia, "Go give her a hand, please."

"You can count on me!" the girl said and shot after the goddess.

Kaito smiled, then turned to Michel. "I'm going to see whether my newspaper teleported in yet, walk with me if you will. Did you visit Michal yet?"

"Yes," Michel said as he followed Kaito down a small passage.

"Ironic, isn't it? But she seems to make the best of it. So, what have you been doing with Seira? She sounded happier on the phone than I've heard or seen her in a long time."

"Nothing special. I helped her build a shelter and we were in India, freeing a few naga from traders."

Kaito stopped walking. "Did you succeed?"

"Yes, they're at Seira's island now. And ... I met this strange man there. He simply watched me deal with the traders and applauded."

"Odd. I've occasionally intercepted black market exchanges, but getting applause for it?"

"That's why I mention it, it doesn't feel right."

"Did you try approaching him?"

"No, Seira was waiting and those people had teleportation magic, they might have tried intercepting us. We had to get out of there as quick as possible."

"Well thought. Since some humans started believing in magic, a global network of teleportation has been created. It's starting to reach the early stages of the road network, and there are no traffic signs invented for it yet."

"I'm not aware of that, I was just worried for Seira." Michel could only see Kaito's back, but he thought he heard him snicker.

"Seira never forgot you, you know," Kaito said.

"Yes, I've often heard her song and —"

"No, I mean ... You do realize that part of that one song includes asking the addressee to be the first to kiss the singer, right?"

*bleep*

_This Program Has Performed an Illegal Operation and Will Be Shut Down._

"Hey look, finally some color on that pale face of yours," Kaito said with the start of a laugh while he opened a mailbox. Since he looked over his shoulder, he noticed too late that the water rushed in. Sour faced, he pulled out wet and shredded papers.

"Lucia, the _Water Is Air_ magic stopped recognizing inanimate objects again!" he called up.

"I'm sorry, I'll turn it on in a moment!" A few damp crashing noises came down the hall, indicating that she somehow, despite having a tail, had tripped over something.

"Never mind, paper's already lost. But please have it on tomorrow!"

Michel finally got his brain rebooted. "Wh-what do you mean, she wants ..."

"Don't worry, you can rest assured nobody here blinks about interspecies relationships," Kaito said while seeing whether he could salvage some articles. "We even have a fish and a hippocampus married."

"... she's ... no, that's ridiculous, I— You do realize all I did to her, right?"

Kaito shrugged. "So you two will have started out with Stockholm and Lima syndromes, big deal. Me and Lucia spent years in love with the mere _idea_ of each other. Imagine what would have happened if either of us had turned out to be a possessive prick. Well, we weren't, we fell in love for real, and you and Seira have the benefit of actually _knowing_ each other from the past. Besides, it would make a neat tradition, the orange princesses falling for bad boys. My brother's in one of those."

"Alright, you need to stop talking, mister I Rule The Seven Seas. I am in no position to fall in love with any princesses and Seira has bigger worries than pursuing trivial crushes. I came here to make myself useful, not to make a bigger mess," Michel grumbled.

"You have a hard time deciding whether you wanna be humble or cocky, don't you?" Kaito said with what Michel thought was the most obnoxious grin ever. "Here's an idea, how about trying the jerk with a heart of gold act? Then at least you've got some direction."

"This is getting absurd. I will take my leave now. You can reach me on Seira's monster island once Lucia found the rest of my family," Michel spread his wings, but found the hall was too small. Grudgingly, he started to walk back up, but hadn't turned yet or Lucia before him.

"What was all that shouting just now?" she asked.

"I was just giving him love advice that he found embarrassing," Kaito smirked.

"What? Oh, is it for Seira?"

Michel facepalmed, but Lucia was oblivious as usual. She swam before him and held out three shells, each in a different color : green, purple and maroon.

"Well, anyway, give these to Seira and her stairs will lead you directly to where Lanhua, Lady Bat and Alala are."

He took the shells and noticed she had clumsily drawn wings on each shell, fitting to the lost wings of each member. A childish but kind gesture, making Michel wonder whether she was a queen or a mere girl. A lingering memory mimicked Fuku's disdainful words over such trivial things; if he had still been a child he would have seamlessly taken them over. He begged to differ now.

"Thank you," he said with a simple bow, which he'd become quite accustomed to during his life with the Ancients. Kaito couldn't help but say, "Oh, to her you're courteous."

"You were rude to me first," Michel said with a deliberate attitude. "And, didn't you suggest I act insufferable?"

"Touché. But fun aside, Michel, once you've made sure your friends are alright, come back right away. We need to talk about that man you saw in India. If you're really here to be useful, we could use help in getting that black market off its feet," Kaito said. Lucia drifted to his side and he put his arm around her waist, smiling in a way that told her he had control over the situation. Yet Michel suspected Kaito was quite at loss at what to do with this new world as much as he himself. Everyone seemed to be, lately.

"Alright, I'll come as soon as I can," he promised and feared it would be sooner than wanted. If it didn't involve fighting, there wouldn't be a lot of he could do for his family.

He said farewell and took his leave. As they led him out, he heard Lucia ask about India and Kaito related what he knew. "Oh, now I remember, Kadru said that cause of the drought her children had started wandering and they were easier prey that way, but I didn't know she meant ... oh dear, I should have ..."

Then he heard no more, but he looked over his shoulder for a long time. For those two, a fairytale ending not quite tragedy, but time would tell whether there would be certain peace.

**· · · · · · ·**


	6. Consolation

**· · · · · · ·**

Twice did Seira delay her arrival due to something or another in her kingdom and so Michel drove away time with work. A few adjustments could be made to the shelter for his beasts, though they were quite happy already.

Much like these creatures, Lanhua, Lady Bat and Alala had never been born. So upon returning to earth, they had skipped up youth entirely, now they went through life in the belief they had suffered amnesia. The Aqua Regina had tried her best to let them be found by benevolent people, but from there on they still had followed a path into the world. Some additional searching had to be done.

Finally, Michel and Seira soon found themselves in China. Lanhua had been adopted by a kindly elder couple who ran an orchid garden and lived on selling their flowers. From what they gathered, she had been with them happily for a few years and had also rediscovered her talent for singing. But then, the old man fell ill and there hadn't been enough money for treatment. Lanhua had tried getting a job, but failed, and the land had to be sold. He had died a year later. Now with debts and a heartbroken mother-in-law, Lanhua had moved to the city to pursue a college education. Having some knowledge of agriculture, she had managed to land a job at a small flower company after her studies were complete. The last six years she'd worked there, paying off the health care and education debt bit by bit. This much they learned from an old woman in a small apartment, whose veil had fallen from her eyes, and she could see Michel for what he was regardless of disguise.

"So, angels, they are true after all. Say, beautiful one, could you take me along and relief my dear daughter of the burden that I am?" Michel had backed off and had simply fled out of the door.

"She will suffer more if you leave her on her own," Seira had assured the old woman, whom had only shook her head sadly.

"No, my daughter has other friends now." Seira wanted to assure her that she wasn't forgotten, but she stopped herself. After all, she didn't know whether it was true, and she no longer had the optimism to assume so readily.

Michel had sat down in the hall outside the apartment, where Seira rejoined him. Somewhere in one of the other apartments an old man started mumbling in a nightmare, and down below caretakers ran through and fro to help one who had fallen ill. It was a house for the elderly, and so the end of lives was all around. In the dark, Seira saw Michel's eyes slightly alight. What had spooked him so much she could not guess, so she asked.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he whispered. "Nothing with me. But a lot with this world."

A shiver ran across Seira's back. While right now she could not feel what he felt, she could imagine it. If one thing was truly frightening about him, then it was what his desire for paradise could make him do. She bent forward and pulled him to his feet, perhaps a little more forcefully than she intended. Avoiding his startled eyes, she said, "Come now, the old lady gave me an address, we should go."

**· · · · · · ·**

They found their way to a city far off, but Lanhua was neither home nor at the school she supposedly attended, and finally, it was a vague feeling of Michel that led them to a Scholar's Garden. Even if they wouldn't find Lanhua here, Seira said it would be worth the visit.

It was early dawn and still silent here, the noise of the city was shielded away. Bamboo formed a firm yet humble wall alongst many paths and they could not oversee the garden with ease, so they searched by road. Small bridges led across the streams from a lotus pond, the tips of willow leafs on their surface. As if to complete the art of asymmetry, this morning a thin layer of fog lay across the water, though it dulled the scent of the blossom a little.

"It is beautiful," Michel said with delight. "If once I had seen how humans can love nature as others destroy it ..." He wasn't too certain it would have been different back then, though.

They passed a small mountain with a plum blossom tree atop, and from there they reached the pavilion that lay aside of the main pond. The sun fell on the water and cast the pavilion in a silhouette, painting chimes and a lone woman between the pillars. She sat hunched forward on the ground, a slight deviation of shadow that might go unnoticed to a quick eye. But Scholar Gardens exist for one to see.

"Hello?" Seira said from the entrance of the pavilion.

" _What_?" Lanhua looked up and saw two foreigners, a tan girl and a possible albino girl, both in their late teens. She glared at them with sleep deprived eyes, then recalled her manners and lowered her gaze.

"Excuse me? May we sit here?"

"It's an open garden. Do as you wish."

Her hair was cut short, her clothes anything but the classical qípáo Michel had known her to wear. To say she was displaced in this garden was an understatement.

"Is there something you want?" Lanhua impatiently said when she became aware of Seira's continued attention.

"No, but ...you don't look to well, is there anything we can do for you?"

"How could you do anything?" Lanhua muttered. At that point, Michel stepped into the pavilion.

"Would you want to leave if you could?" he asked. She looked up sharply.

"I can't leave," she said, a little offended. _What would a stranger know of me, to ask such questions?_

"Family?" At least, he hoped that was the answer. "Or have you already left, and you're hiding now?"

Lanhua didn't reply for a long time, her face was averted to the waters. The fog was withdrawing already and the first spots of sunlight cast blurry jadestones below the surface.

"For life and growth, look to the east, she always told me," Lanhua eventually said. "That's why she often asked me to wear green and remember the sunrise. I'm ashamed of meeting her like this," Lanhua admitted. "Oh, what am I doing? I shouldn't bother strangers with this." _Or rather, you shouldn't bother me._

"Maybe we aren't strangers," Michel suggested. "And don't the scholar's gardens exist to to reach yourself?"

"They do, but who am I finding in _you_?"

"Just two more people who seek enlightenment," Michel said.

"Well, I hope you find it here, because I only see the mirage of it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a court case to attend to. I suppose I should thank you for reminding me of reality," Lanhua said as she stood up. "Have a nice day, strangers."

She walked out of the pavilion, but stopped when Seira held her back gently.

"Please, take this," Seira held out two orchids, which were tied together with a silver string with two pearls at the tips.

Lanhua hesitated to take them. "You didn't steal these from the garden, did you? I have a hard time believing you've just been carrying these flowers around for no good reason."

Seira took her hand and closed it around the stems. "Don't worry about it," she said kindly, before walking back to Michel. Lanhua lingered, looked at the flowers, then decided to just let it be. She turned to leave, but when she looked over her shoulder, meaning to say thanks, the pavilion was empty. A few white feathers were carried by the wind and landed on the water, leaving Lanhua with the sense of a small miracle.

**· · · · · · ·**

Their next target was Lady Bat in Romania ... or at least, meant to be. Due to Lady Bat's nature as a vampire, she had been able to go to Earth and live with legendary creatures instead, while Lanhua and Alala had been too large to join the fairies. They found out that Lady Bat had lived with the local vampires for a while, but they had departed due to disagreements or something. At least, that's what they thought. One of the vampires claimed she had been considering to just live as a human, but other than the moniker Radu Chiroptere they knew nothing of his whereabouts.

Seira soon had to return to her kingdom and Michel gave up for now, but hoped for a happier fate than Lanhua. He was however rather pleased about having gone the whole time without embarrassing slips about Kaito's presumptions. Now for the next day ...

**· · · · · · ·**

Alala had made her way through America in the form of Mincy Mellyson, or as her stage name went, Bell Bell Bell. While her days of national fame were over already, she still could make a living through her smaller but devoted fanbase. Michel and Seira had teleported behind the curtains and tried to act inconspicuous, which was rather difficult since Michel's hair length was quite the eye catcher, especially when it got stuck on lamps or doors.

"Yeaaaah!" The green-haired teen girl put on an epic moe face and the audience was hers to play. While the show had ended a while ago, the party went on and she was handing out autographs or giving an interview. They couldn't really see what went on due to the crowd around her.

"Perhaps we'll just leave without meeting her, or go some other time," Michel suggested. "She seems to be doing alright."

"I think that's a good idea," Seira said with obvious distaste as she looked at the otaku horde.

"Yes, let's go," Michel said coldly, which surprised Seira.

Alala for her turn had barely managed to free herself from her adoring fans when she saw the most peculiar sight walking around behind the stage : a girl with Indian features yet brown hair and another girl with really, really _long_ minty hair that made her instantly jealous. And nostalgic, for some reason. Now, she didn't own this place, but she knew it well enough. She sneaked away and ambushed her prey while they walked off again. Alala was tiny, but Michel was light-boned and unprepared. With great force, she pulled him behind a set of curtains that separated from the main hall behind the stage.

"Do I know you?" she demanded as she pushed him against the wall. "See, you're in here, without appointment or card, and you're not the sort of fan I usually attract. And the most suspicious? My otherwise overly protective bodyguards are _completely_ ignoring you. Makes me rather curious," she chirped.

But when Seira somewhat angrily took her by the shoulder, Alala let go of Michel. "And you ... " she wondered. "Shouldn't you have orange hair?"

Seira and Michel exchanged a glance. "Uh, you're not panicking? We did break in here, and we might be using magic to blind your bodyguards."

"You're saying you had the skill to break in with _that_ lack of haircut, yet couldn't bother to hide yourself from me? Nah, and now answer my questions."

"I just mentioned magic," Seira said to herself, a little confused. She looked at Michel again, who shrugged. As far as he could know, Alala should have been without memory, let alone believe in magic.

"Magic? As if I would not believe in it. Look at me. I've been in the business for years. See any signs of the smoking, drugs, liquor, harassment, stress and depression I've been through? Yeah, not much, is it? I should be dead by now, but I'm _not even aging_!" She threw a nearby wine bottle against the wall and laughed, "It's like some creepy pervert made me to be the ultimate moe blob!"

"Don't joke about those things," Michel said irritably.

"Relax, I know I'm a bad role model. The point is just that I don't look up from strange things like you two angel faces teleporting into my place. But I would like to know why you're here."

"We came to ask something," Seira said. "Would you want to leave?"

"Nope, fine right where I am. So what's your deal? You both seem awfully physical for being my guardian angels, and if you were, you could have shown up a little earlier?"

Michel's disposition turned from cold to downright condescending. "Alright, I have something to say. Is this all you've been doing, wasting your time?"

"Excuse me?"

"Let's say that hypothetically, I'm your guardian angel trying to get you on the right path. Well guess what, I just got out of rehab myself and I'm not happy to see you having turned into such a selfish, filthy brat wasting her time on entertaining a group of perverts who can't be bothered to pick up their own trash." He roughly shoved Alala onto the nearby chair. "And let's say hypothetically, I once was on drugs without knowing it. You don't want to remember what that turned me into, especially to — You had it difficult alright, but even back then you had some freaking sense of duty! What are you doing now? You've really become useless!"

"Michel! Calm down!" Seira said, and then apologetically, "He's actually angry at himself."

Alala just stared up at him and blinked. After a few seconds, she said, "He doesn't just look angry, he looks like he knows what he's talking about. Here's another neat thing. I was found mere weeks after that strange event where everyone all over the world had the same hallucination. The end of the world, but all signs had disappeared. But some people described things they had seen on television during the hallucination, and those matched up with the hallucinations of those on the locations in question. Funny, no? Almost as if television had been broadcasting everyone's hallucinations."

Michel realized he had said too much, but his frustration got the upper hand over concern. He didn't try to remedy his slip of words.

"So Michel, why am I here?" Alala asked.

"Because you chose to. You'd live one life here and then see whether you would want to return."

"I _chose_ to come here? Oh, I'm enjoying myself here, but only after taking a few years to figure out how to live this life without ruining myself perpetually. _I_ chose?" She abruptly stood up and pulled a nearby radio off of a shelf. She started switching channels, going past the news reports, talk shows and other of the real life variety. Disasters, murders on the news, songs of suffering and shallow love, and happy commercials in between. She left it on the news. "And I wanted to come here why again?"

"Someone whom I cannot find has your memories, I cannot give you which I don't have, but, I'll bring you home as soon as I can," Michel promised, while swallowing back a remark on how he hoped she'd do something else till then.

"Oh great. If I were you, I'd stop talking. If you can't do anything for me right now, then I'll be happier not knowing anything. At this point, I don't have it too bad."

"She's right," Seira said, with a nod towards one of the doors, which they could see past the curtains. The bodyguards were watching them.

Alala sat down again, and the news report on the radio droned on. She seemed to be waiting for them to leave on their own, or give her a reason to learn anyway. Now the silence fell, they started to hear what the news reports were about.

A solemn voice spoke of last day's heavy rainfall in south Asia, despite it not even being monsoon season. The sewers were overflowing and animal carcasses drifted around, spreading waterborne diseases. The slums were washed empty, its residents driven away or dying. They had missed the opening of the news report, but then the name dropped : India hadn't seen such a disastrous monsoon since recorded history.

"Oh no, Lucia ... " a horrified Michel whispered.

"Michel, why...?"

"She was asking Kaito about it, ... "

"Who's Lucia?" Alala tried, but was ignored as Michel took Seira by the hand and pulled her to the nearest door, which happened to be a storage chamber without exit. She darted after them, but found it devoid of the two strangers.

Alala stood there for a while, lost in thought, biting her thumbnail. Then she turned around and loudly declared to everyone working here, "Alright, wrap up everything, we're going to India!"

Surprised shouting rose up and several variants of the same question, "What are we going to do there?" Especially her manager was quite upset, as he'd believed the girl's whims had long since been under control. He dropped his coffee and his satisfied smile and wobbled over to her.

"Why would you want to go to India? Why not a nice tour through Europe?"

"Not that again. We're going to be useful. In India. Now run off and pack my things," Alala said with a dismissive handwave.

"But this sort of thing doesn't suit your reputation! Why not just organize a fund raise?"

"Yeah, it doesn't suit me, but being Jailbait Tinkerbell is getting old and ... for some reason I kinda feel like I've been scolded by my big sister, or brother, not sure. So! I'm swimming in money and India is swimming in sewage water. We're going to fix both!" she declared, and with that the conversation was over.

**· · · · · · ·**

Michel's attempt to storm into the palace and make a lot of noise, just to release some anger, was hindered by the fact that the _Water Is Air_ magic still hadn't been turned on and the gates he slammed only produced a hollow sound. Still, it was enough to bring Kaito down.

"Michel?"

"What the heck is going on in India? How can you let her do that?"

"I had no idea what she was up to," Kaito said grimly. "She probably didn't understand either what the consequences could be."

Michel did his best to remain calm, and succeeded in so far that he wasn't shouting when he said, "How can she not understand?"

"Lucia doesn't have enough control over her powers yet," Kaito continued.

"She's been at it for a decade! How can you accidentally flood India?"

"Look, she _really_ sucks at mathematics. She can't calculate how much water she can bring down before it becomes dangerous. If I had known what she was going to do ... dammit."

Michel blinked. "She can't ... she sucks at mathematics? Then why is _she_ of all mermaids the new Aqua Regina? How can you be an elemental goddess and not be able to calculate what your powers do?"

"I'm sorry," a soft voice said. They both turned, there was Lucia in the gate. Seira stood behind her, having picked her up the moment they had learned Lucia was still out and about.

"I just wanted to help," she said, on the verge of tears. "I just ... Michel's going around looking after his people and Seira is taking care of her people and of the naga too and I thought ... I need to do something too."

Kaito quickly walked over to her, wanted to embrace her, but she pushed away.

"Please don't," she said as she stepped back. "I ... need to go fix it ... I shouldn't go hide now."

He held out his hand and said, "At least let me help."

When she caved in and threw herself in Kaito's arms, Michel finally saw Lucia beyond the queen _and_ the heroine. People like her were happiest as house wife with many cute children, baking cookies and going to beaches. Ruling seventy percent of the globe's surface was just about the most cruel responsibility that fate could have given her.

**· · · · · · ·**


	7. Wishes

**· · · · · · ·**

Coral reefs thrived best at around twenty seven degrees Celsius, but due to Lucia's overcompensating attempt to get water out of the ocean and onto the land, she had raised the local temperate between 5 to 9 degrees. The cradles of the sea started dying right when refugees from India — water spirits and other kin who fled their devastated homes — started pouring into the Indian Ocean.

Seira spent the next few days teleporting all over her domain, arranging places for the different tribes to go — as far as they were loyal to her, or would listen to reason — and establishing guards at the coral reefs. Programs for food distribution developed and flocks of fish driven to the north, all to spare the reefs from total destruction.

At the end of that, there was a difficult decision for the princess to make : whether or not she would force the uncooperative tribes from their waters to make room for the refugees. All mermaids combined still made for a kingdom small enough to be governed by a single person, but the number of refugees ran into ten thousands ... a rebellion amongst her own was the last she could use.

This left precious little time for herself, let alone other things. Once she finally found time for to visit the hidden island, it was only to pick up the naga children to return them to their family.

"I'm sorry, Michel, I cannot help you find Lady Bat, not now," she said hurriedly when Michel emerged from the misty jungle. Behind him was a group of chimeras, but Seira didn't see the naga children amongst them.

"That's alright, and hello, Seira," he said with a smile. "What are you hurrying off to?"

"I'm sorry, hello, I have to go meet Kadru, she'll bring home the naga children, where are they?"

"Seira, breathe," Michel commanded. "When is the last time you slept? You look awful."

"Sleep?" she said incredulously. "There's a catastrophe going on!"

"This can't be the first flood that washed the sea full of monsters," Michel said.

"Yes, but it is the first of _my_ time and certainly never in a world that actually was inclined to believe magic! There's already rumors with the superstitious that those weird creatures in the water caused the flood, and one village killed a flock Pishacha who were passing by, and we barely managed to keep their bodies from falling into humans hands and, ... oh, Michel, it's chaos out there. No, no time to complain, I have to return those children now I have a free bit of time, and maybe —"

She stopped abruptly, taken aback by the touch of Michel's hand on her cheek. The tips of his fingers fell just onto her neck, and again her tan skin served well to mask a blush.

"Seira, breathe," he repeated with in a softer tone. She let go of a long breath and gathered up her thoughts as Michel drew back.

"Do we still have that basket?"

He whistled and pointed back to the jungle, prompting one of the faster monsters to dart off. Then he whistled again, and the monster appointed to supervising the naga children — a snake turtle chimera — slowly went about herding the lot together. They were around, but concealed in the foliage and rocks. Seira noticed her vision was blurry and hasty, she hadn't noticed them at all.

"I will visit Kaito and Michal, and see where I can make myself most useful," Michel said as he reached aside of his own face. He took off one of his earrings and held it out to her. "These ornaments have hold m- the Emperor's magic. I've never really explored them, but this one may be of use tonight. Be careful though, I do not know what else but light it can be."

"Our little pink princess would say, that's a handy plot device for later," Seira remarked. Michel, unaware of the expression, almost dropped his hand in the belief it was a decline.

"No, it means nothing bad. Thank you, Michel. I am honored to use it," Seira quickly added, and so she accepted the gift.

**· · · · · · ·**

As she drifted before a mirror in her castle, Seira wondered once more. What earth itself brought forth could not be called princesses, but merely beacons of power. Yet these beacons ruled the weaker by right of might, not by right of wisdom. A fact that always nagged at Seira whenever she contemplated her role as a so called princess.

In appendix to that, it had always made her curious why their idol forms were modern day western in design, rather than anything of other, older cultures ... or even mermaid culture. If mermaids ever had possessed a culture of their own, it had long since been replaced by fairytale substitutes.

Only the Aqua Regina's castle remained looking truly oceanic. After her first visit to that place, Seira had realized just how far the current kingdoms were from the ancient times. Maybe mermaids modernized their clothing with greater ease because they never wore any under normal circumstances, but still, she had experienced that by dressing solely in "western" style she created an image of arrogance when amongst those more traditional cultures. Adaption had been required.

Seira had dressed in full princess outfit, but it wasn't the clothes the standard magic would give. Instead of fairytale frills, it was a mixture of tribal elements from all around her ocean, veils and paint and simple gold, rings and stitched thread at the edges of the cloth. Right now, the array of colors was a sunset colored insult to her weary mind.

"Pretty," a small voice hissed.

Seira looked down and saw one of the larger naga children, who had crawled out of the basket shyly. The little one tried to imitate a human smile or perhaps laughter. Seira smiled back.

"Thank you."

**· · · · · · ·**

Through restless waters and a dark night, Seira and her passengers arrived at a shore in India. A distant storm raged above the inland, but the occasional lightning offered no help to her eyes. Underwater, Seira could go a long way in the dark by using scent and sonar; that benefit she lacked above the surface. When she came to the shore, the took the earring off her ear and it transformed into a lantern. Her lips spun a brief smile, which disappeared with the next flash of lightning.

The naga children peeked out of the basket on her back as Seira walked a little further onto the beach, her already dry clothes trailing behind her in the edge of approaching storm. If not for her cheerful coloration and fearful expression, she might have passed for a ghost from the sea. Rather an uncertain young woman she was.

Kadru had many forms which often would indicate her moods, and her lack of appearance right now was unsettling. The looming forest held no sound to betray a giant snake, and the song of a vengeful naga did not reach her. Nonetheless, she had hoped for a warmer welcome.

The children called out and their call was answered from some distance away.

A rocky formation transformed before Seira's eyes, a glamor fell to conceal a reed thin Indian woman in simple clothing. Sternly faced, she watched the mermaid princess approach. Seira felt her youth in every step she came closed, weighed down by the old power before her. Kadru was the mother of a vivid nation fallen to oblivion, its loss carved into her like time in the sediments of earth. Some traces lost forever, but the sum of the remainder visible on a wrinkled old face.

Seira had met her first in a different shape, but with the same scornful eyes. At that time, she had believed she was facing a great evil. Now she only considered herself to stand before the most bitter fate a mother could befall, and this gave her the grace of reverence. Quietly she set the basket on the sand and knelt down as she opened it.

Though they had never seen Kadru, the children could recognize their ancestor by mere instinct. Not a kind word or expression came from her, at least nothing for the ears of Seira, but serpents are often deaf anyway. Perhaps Kadru's maternity showed in some other way, scent, posture, for the children curled against her as if she was the safest place in the world.

"They were being traded in the Taj Mahal, they probably came from the north," Seira said, knowing nothing better.

"I know my children's origins without your words," Kadru said. "But what use is finding the family when all washed away? Garuda has called his nation out of the Himalayas, they hold a contest to see who can kill the most of my kin."

"That's dreadful! I wish I could do something, but ..."

The children curled onto Kadru's arms and back and she picked up the larger ones in an embrace. But, she did not leave.

"Dreadful? Do something? Your queen caused this disaster! If she has your support, then you too have responsibility."

"What do you want me to do that I haven't done already?"

"I want you to call back the waters."

"I have no such powers, and Lucia doesn't underst—"

"Oh, I'll believe _she_ knows _nothing_. But you ... have you even tried doing anything?"

"Look, lady Kadru, I'm already doing everything I can, and right now there is a rift between my people. They dispute whether I should rule and this claims a lot of my time —"

"You _are_ the manifestation of the Indian Ocean! You have responsibility for the waters still!"

Seira clenched her hands. "I know that, but ... " There it was, the feeling of being small and insignificant. She averted her eyes to the pale sand before her.

"But what?"

"Good answers don't come for free, or easily, Lady Kadru. I don't have any to give you." She raised her eyes again when no reply came, and saw still the same unrelenting stance from Kadru. But now she spoke, and her voice was if ever so slightly different. Not gentler, but more forgiving and less powerful.

"We know you have shown concern for the welfare of the naga, now and before, but we are dying out. Years ago, the Ancient whom you all stopped ... he had come to us for support. We were too weak to aid him and he expressed his regrets. He left with the promise that we would be restored to full power in the paradise he meant to create. But your goddess prevailed and no matter how much love she carries, only misery she brought us. That is what I would like you to understand."

"You're saying that I should ... "

"Stop trying to play fair and lovely," Kadru said with a voice that lost strength with every word. It was moments like this that almost made the old mother seem breakable. Seira had seen them before, and they were what truly frightened her. Not Kadru's anger, but the idea that ever she might break.

"You're right, not everything can be fixed with the mere feeling of love or the purity of wishes," said Seira, speaking what Kadru meant to add. "Alright. Send those of your kin who can swim to my ocean. I will take care of them."

**· · · · · · ·**

To Seira's surprise, Michel was still at the island ... no, wait. She had left a dream corridor open for him and it had disappeared, he must have used it.

When he saw her, he met her at the water's edge.

"You're back so soon?"

"I realized it is the end of the day in Switzerland and I figured I would let Michal sleep for the night. Though, I think she knows something is on my mind, cause she's irritated. I feel it now. No, I was with Kaito first, to give him a description of the man I saw."

"Oh ... did you see Lucia?"

"No. Kaito didn't say anything either, but the little pink princess said that Lucia has been practicing with her powers obsessively somewhere in the lower halls. Kaito meanwhile insists I need to make myself known to the other mermaid princesses as well. I know they're not going to do anything to me, but ..."

"It this because of how Licht responded?"

"It's because of everything. I hardly made a good impression by storming into the Aqua Regina's palace and complaining about the monsoon."

"Oh, that? Don't worry, I'm pretty sure Hanon and Rina have their share to say about that too. It'll be alright, really."

"It's hardly the right time," Michel said. Seira sighed and gave up.

"Well then ... I have something to ask and it's probably not the right time either, but ... You once thought it was right to the billions of lives of the human race to bring about your new world. To what point would you say now that it's not justified?"

He looked somewhat disturbed. "What are you thinking about?"

"I have a decision to make that I can't avoid anymore. I once acted too lenient and it ended up being a problem that haunts me now. That's why I would like to understand your reasoning in acting against humankind, despite the compassion in your heart."

"I did not mean to kill them all. The world would have changed and they would have been the lowest, without their cities and technology, but total annihilation is not what I desired. Many would have died in the process, but only as ... collateral damage." He sighed. "I crossed the line, but I can't tell you where exactly the line is. I'm sorry, Seira."

"No, don't be. I will remember your words and I believe they are of use to me. Now, let's stop looking grim. I've seen too much of those faces already in the past week." She splashed her tail, covering him with a net of drops. The depressive face did not disappear, but rather looked sour now.

"What did I deserve that for?"

"Here's another lesson, Michel. If someone splashes you with water, it's a game!" She splashed her tail back and forth, smiled at him with a precious remnant of joy, and perhaps he only wanted to do her a favor when he suddenly scooped a wing full of water over her. At her surprise, he triumphantly smirked. And he didn't give up now that it started, useless as a water battle against a mermaid was.

She really was too tired, but it would be the last game she could afford for a while, and she liked to see him laugh.

**· · · · · · ·**

There were three separated tribes at the Dhivehi Raa'je islands; while rejecting Seira's orders they had agreed to give aid to refugees. To the north, another tribe was at the Lakshadvīp. Now it became apparent why that one particular tribe had settled around the those islands, rather than have strength by joining those at the Maldives ... there were certain internal disagreement with that tribe that wasn't only directed at Seira.

They had claimed the three reefs of Lakshadvīp and the Adas Bank, about 90 kilometers north from here. This tribe was considerably more aggressive in their independence, and it weighed all the heavier because they had claimed the reef closest to India. If Seira wanted to keep a grip on the refugee influx, she needed that reef to shelter and feed those who came from the north. Especially the smallest monsters would not survive if they would have to swim all the way to the Dhivehi Raa'je reefs, and the shores were patrolled by garudas as well as humans, there they could not go either.

The mermaids here ranged from dark brown to cheerful orange, it was not their coloration but their ideals that had drawn them together. Seira met them at the reef's southern edge. The group had formed a half circle before it, a proverbial barrier. Seira ordered her own escort to remain behind while she went ahead to speak.

Aralnu, a name she had learned mere weeks ago, was another mundane mermaid, conventionally beautiful as they all were, though with somewhat sharper features than usual. Whether it was her aggression or her default form, Seira could not tell in the dim light of her lantern.

"Why did you come tonight? Have we not made it clear already that we will not move _nor_ form an allegiance? You already have the Angria Bank, that should do."

"I have not forgotten. Nor have I forgotten that it is three hundred kilometers between the Angria Bank and the Cora Divh alone. If the refugees have to continue further to the Dhivehi Raa'je from here, they will surely die, for they are not allowed rest. Garuda and his kind have taken to the skies and are killing demons and naga all over the place."

"This is our home, if we sacrifice it we have nowhere to go, just like those you're trying to help," one of the other mermaids of Aralnu's tribe called, but she was silenced with a vicious glare by their leader. "I don't see why we should need to make room for river demons. What's next, we'll be granting sea demons homes too?"

Seira opened her mouth, but stopped herself. What they said was true, to some degree ... she was about to drive them off into homelessness. They must have suspected this, for now she noticed the weapons; scraps of iron and other material lost by the world above.

"You do not have to leave," she softly said. "Just leave them in peace and let them recover a little."

"Ha, and how are you going to guarantee they will leave _us_ alone?"

"I ... I can't guarantee that."

"Then why bother rehashing this old conversation? We won't tolerate those demons destroying our reef and you apparently won't tolerate us. What now, _princess_?"

Seira took a deep breath, feeling the salt water stir through her lungs. It carried the scent of brewing rage ... how odd, how long had mermaids lived underwater without using the scent that was so important for sea creatures? Then again, when had been the last time mermaids had drawn weapons against each other?

"You want me to be a good ruler? Then I cannot place your desires above the lives of others, just because you are my kin. Your number is lesser than that of the refugees and you I can find another place to live, while they must pass through here or die of exhaustion ... if Garuda and his kin do not eat them first."

The water around her began to glow orange, her clothes whirled in the intensifying current. It did not go unnoticed, and time they didn't give her.

Seira's company consisted of four mermaids, two of which armed with lances, but they were only trained in warding off wild sealife. Confrontations rarely happened and Seira herself, she knew nothing. Neither did her opponents, but they had the greater number.

They spread out around, above, below, and her guards barely could keep them back. Everything went too fast and her mind threatened to be overcome by an instinct of flight. Chaos, and then the first details of a wound that her guards suffered, and the those they inflicted on the enemy. The scent of blood came thick down her throat, nauseous, and what could she do about it? Seira had come with a plan, but here in the flesh it wasn't simple anymore.

"Have you ever thought it over? They'll destroy the reef, they have no idea nor care for the balance here!" came Aralnu's voice in the middle of that.

She had a point, off course. Doubt was a monster and it crept up Seira's already confused mind, for was it worth sacrificing the reefs if it would erase all the life in the future that would depend on it?

The battle did not last long, and Seira could not tell any detail of it up to the point where she smelled sharks. The fish doubtlessly were drawn to the blood, and their presence was what caused the mermaid attackers to back off.

A silence before the storm, then the first shark shot forth, followed the closest trail of blood. In the rush her lantern fell and Seira could not recognize whether the tail belonged to friend or enemy. It mattered no more, she dove forward and tackled the shark. It didn't let go immediately, but the victim had been armed and jabbed the shark in the mouth, ripping herself free just in time. Now the shark, frenzied by the scent of blood, turned to Seira.

Instinctively she raised her arms before her head and backed off, but the shark was quicker. Its jaws snapped shut ... right before her, then jerked away with equal speed. The water around grew thicker with blood, but hers it was not.

Confused she looked around, waving off the red wall with her tail. Through the haze found what remained of the shark, just when it disappeared into the mouth of a giant brown snake, no ... a naga.

A second one curled around her, not touching her but nevertheless close. Its face stopped before her, one eye right before hers. The fallen lantern was curled in the tip of its tail, and he handed it back to her.

"Wh-who are you?"

"Your guardians," the naga said, though he did not move its mouth in any way. When when he moved its head up, she saw it certainly spoke ... on its throat was something very close to a humanoid face, sans nose. Dark irises shone with a light frown inside and a thin mouth smiled at her, nothing malicious in its expression, yet not quite human enough to make her feel comfortable.

"What do you mean?"

"Lady Kadru sent us as sign of gratitude for rescuing her children," the naga said. "I am Uchochikha, my sibling is Mahahanu. From this point forth, we shall be your guardians."

Kadru had hardly seemed grateful. Then again, perhaps that too was something expressed in a way that Seira had been unable to perceive. Almost humandly blind she seemed to herself.

Seira bowed her head and said, "Please relay her my gratitude. She owes me nothing."

"We won't, for we will not meet her anytime soon. Our orders are to remain at your side. Now command us, mistress."

_No turning back now, Seira._

"Alright. Will you keep those mermaids around us at bay, without hurting them? I will need all my concentration for what I am about to do."

"And that would be?"

"I will wash them away, far away."

The opposing tribe had reformatted, their injured member hanging between them, but the rest gave no intention of simply dropping the fight. However, they did not seem quite willing to swim forth and advance either, now Seira had been joined by the serpents. They muttered together, seeing demons and doom only. This was how Seira learned that hate can be inspirational too.

So she sang from that inspiration with the two snakes curled around her. None even dared to approach them and Seira's voice became stronger with each note. It was a solemn, repetitive song that did not speak of love or hope : it spoke of nothing. A siren's song, wordless and sorrowful, but also angry. The currents of the oceans changed their ways, bent by her supernatural command.

_I will not follow Sara's way_ , she promised herself, but with a shiver and great uncertainty. Blame to herself or none that this day had come again, when mermaids were across each other as enemies.

Only a bubble of safety around herself and her six allies, the water moved towards each enemy mermaid, picking them up and carrying them into the dark horizon of the aquatic world.

**· · · · · · ·**

A few hours later, the first refugees arrived. It became apparent soon enough that there were just too many for the reefs here to handle. There was be food depletion, the reefs were already in trouble ... this might be their end.

But many approached Seira and thanked her, blessed her, and slowly she started to feel like a good person again. How strange, how affirmation can ease one's conscience in the middle of destructive doubt. The rebels might have been right, or wrong, or maybe there was no clear answer in this situation. Seira found in herself an ugly wish : for the world to return to the once where all was black or white, and black could be made white by the power of mere feelings. Where it was easy to judge, and faith and kindness could heal everything.

A small floating riverspirit, looking like a snail with wood and mud for house, came to her at this moment. It bristled something in a strange language and tapped its little horns on her hand. Somehow it managed to smile, then it floated off, and she realized it was another sign of gratitude. Too late she remembered to respond.

"My lady, are you alright?" She felt one of her guard' hands on her arm, barely touching her more than the snail had done.

Two old turtle monsters came her way and they too did not speak her language, but she remembered to greet them in return this time.

"I _have_ to be alright. Just move along and continue helping everyone find a place, I will be fine," she then told her guard.

The injured and starved monsters crowded together, prowled the reefs for anything edible, while her escorts tried to instruct everyone on what was poisonous. The sharks circled the reef, and soon it was decided they should deal with the corpses of the deceased, rather than let them rot. Most of the monsters had no value for graves anyway. Her two naga guards carried the dead to the open, the sharks followed, and the scent of death carried everywhere.

Seira's thoughts inevitably returned to Michel, who had introduced her to raw carnage at such a young age. He'd thought himself a monster for cannibalizing his minions and Seira had wholeheartedly agreed, but they had been alive. She couldn't feel the same horror while she saw the sharks at work, only doing what nature made them do. The two naga she had not truly spoken to yet. They went around, aiding in the distribution of information and keeping order while the mermaids tended to the injured. Quite a lucky gift, Seira made note to thank Kadru for them, for right now she lacked the power to raise a shield against the sharks.

During a quiet interim, between one flock and the next, she approached the two naga. "Can you tell me a little about why exactly you're here? I don't ... "

"We told you already."

"No, I mean, why _you_?" It had not escaped her the two naga were quite appropriate for her : brown overall, but with beige belly and the a line of red and orange scales atop their back, almost like feathers. Even their fishlike whispers were glowing orange.

"We were chosen first because we are good warriors, second because we match your colors and third because we have human expressions to expend," said Mahahanu. "It is not the first time the silent fear has taken those we deal with, our great mother thought it wise to send someone with human faces to your side."

"The Uncanny Valley," Seira said with a weary smile as she let her fingers trail over the serpent's head. Then she realized that petting sapients might be considered rude, and she withdrew her hand. "I'm sorry."

The naga looked up, quite surprised. "What for?"

"... never mind. I would like to ask something else."

The two naga nodded.

"Have you ever heard of ... has any of your family ever been approached by a winged human? Not a Garuda, but something else?" Four faces grinned in response, for the first time they looked truly amused.

"The emperor of the ancient world, before humans came. He had come to Kadru mere years ago. We have also heard the mermaids princesses put an end to his short revival. Why do you ask?"

"It's just that I was wondering how he treated your kin, and whether he promised to do anything about Garuda?"

They both shook their heads. "Who knows? Kadru does, but she thinks it is not worth sharing with anyone but herself, so worth it is not. What are you thinking of, princess?"

"You're very curious to my thoughts, you're really not here to spy on me?" she asked with a weary laugh.

Still grinning, Uchochikha said, "To be frank, princess, there's not much to spy on you. Dear ancient mother told us not to tell you she said this, but she thinks you're simple minded, silly and incompetent."

"That and we're prone to disregard her advice to us, like how she said we should not stick our noses everywhere," continued Mahahanu, "or tell her what she says behind the earth walls about other people. She has a fun theory on why the new Triton keeps losing his shirt, would you like to hear it sometime?"

Despite herself, she laughed, but then she saw an exhausted nixe drift to the ground just beyond the two. They followed her gaze. "But not now, I believe," Mahahanu added softly.

Seira nodded and said, "I'll gladly hear your stories later though. Now come."

The serpents twisted in the water to follow her, Seira already reached to the transparent creature, but the water became a wall all of the sudden.

Something giant dove down from the surface, stirring up sand and coral in an explosion to all directions. Panic broke out all around and Seira entered the dust layer the moment the waters allowed. But the nixe was nowhere to be found.

Instead there was a large crater, as if something had simply scooped up the sand and creature alike.

"Princess Seira!" She emerged from the cloud to find the naga headed up, to the dark surface.

Where was the sun?

Seira was certain dawn had come a mere half hour ago, but now all the sky was harboring the start of storm. Frantically she looked across the horizon, no longer looking for a nixe alone but the light that should be here. Nothing but deep purple to all directions, but as her eyes adjusted to the air and darkness — the magic that allowed her to see in the deep did not work above water — she found a silhouette.

On the horizon stood pillars that merged upward into a wing form, one set in the west, set one in the east, and the center was right above. She became aware of high cries, quiet like birds in the distance, and amidst of them a giant shape not as large as the sky, but still if it came down, it might break part of this world.

"Oh no ... Garuda," Seira whispered.

**· · · · · · ·**


	8. Utilitarian

**· · · · · · ·**

"So where to?" Michal asked.

"Romania, Ardeal, according to a the wight I last spoke to. Lady Bat has joined some vampire clan there," Michel said.

"Well, it happens to be so that my bodyguards have this ridiculously fast helicopter," Michal said. "Convenient, no?"

Indeed, there was a state of the art helicopter with feather blade and no counter-rotor behind the mansion. But regardless of its advance, it was still built for humans. Michel wished he had taken along one of Seira's magical cloths, which could hide his wings ... they got in the way. A lot. Worming inside the helicopter took about a minute, then another ten minutes were spent sticking around Michel's wings. After the reserve pilot had stepped in, they took off.

Michal pulled a wing to shield them from the two bodyguard across while signing them to put their headgear on; she wanted privacy. Michel had told her about what he now knew of Lanhua and Alala, so she asked : "How did you get them to agree?"

After some hesitation, he explained, "We were happy, for a while. But I saw them look out onto the earth, missing everything about it, ... so I offered them to leave. I would sort myself out and if they ever wanted to come back, they could — not that I anticipated much of that. It wasn't until they heard that last part that they even agreed. But if I had known how things would end up, I wouldn't have sent them."

"How exactly did it work, finding them homes?"

"I didn't find the places, but I suggested nations where the Aqua Regina could ask. During my quest for allies, I've met a lot of the hidden folk. Only the one I suggested for Lady Bat actually accepted, so Alala and Lanhua agreed on living as humans."

"What a poor idea. My father was a scientist, he never cared for mythology. Even when he found his wife was magical, he did not care for legends, but for facts. That's why he had such a limited vision on the creation of minions, he only knew storybook fairies and vampires."

"So what?"

"Did you know the whole vampire mythology is a big hoax? Vlad Tepes never was anything but an ordinary man, but as time passed, other nature spirits have taken up the trend. The magic world is modernizing, but goes about it a little differently than humans do. The vampires you sent Lady Bat to probably are something else."

"You're saying they're impostors?" As if he needed new reasons to be worried.

"Not quite. The myths of vampires originate in late enlightenment mythology, supposedly being demons that possessed corpses and came to eat people. Nowadays we call that zombies. That never actually happened, but a bunch of fairies took a liking to the idea of enigmatic blood suckers that started much, _much later_. At least, according to my research. I would have thought that you would know more than me, being what you are. Or the Aqua Regina, for that matter."

"The former Aqua Regina had been sealed for centuries, so neither of us are up to date with the current movements of magical creatures."

"Ah. The reason Alala and Lanhua became humans was because neither your nor Aqua Regina managed to find a place for them amongst the fairies? I'll tell you something funny. _Daemon_ once referred to what we now call fairies, angels, fairy-godmothers, youkai, zână, nature spirits and so on, who could be either good or bad. Presently, _demon_ means fallen servants of God. Meanwhile, the word _fayerye_ derives from a type of demigods who decided fate, and they originally were seen as what we now call ghosts, fallen angels, and other nature or death spirits, which often had an elemental streak. Presently, _fairy_ means a benevolent lady with insect wings. The meanings of the two words have pretty much been changed places in the past few hundred years. Classically speaking, you, your three friends and the Ancients are all demons."

"Michal, is there any particular point you're trying to make?" Michel said impatiently.

"Oh, I talk too long again? Alright. You're stupid. To find Lanhua and Alala homes, you went looking for cheery fairies and knocked on the door of fayerye, a less than moral and far more morbid nation in general, while you _should_ have knocked on the door of the agathodaemon and his kin. You were applying modern day meanings on the classical meanings."

"But ... those fairies said they said the Lanhua and Alala were simply too large to live with them! I've seen them myself, they were —"

"Shape shifters, like all fairies, so size doesn't matter to them and those wings were probably fake. I would bet you five cookies and an ocean that they waved you off cause you didn't offer them gold and did the same thing when meeting up with the old Aqua Regina ... Michel, can you stop bashing your head against the window? It hurts."

**· · · · · · ·**

The Poienari Citadel stood on a cliff and they were obligated to land down the road. Not a problem.

There were wonderful advantages to being a filthy rich and world famous orchestra conductor. Such as calling the authorities who controlled the site, telling them he was interested in the location for vaguely defined musical purposes, mention money, and that he would like a evening to visit the place in a perfectly undisturbed fashion. As a result, all was perfectly quiet up here while the maestro "tested out the acoustic of of the Poienari Citadel". He had even ordered his guards to pack a few jukeboxes and other fancy looking things, and they'd play music in the ruin to test said acoustic. Officially speaking.

In other words, Licht Amagi was taking all possible precautions against a potential horde of ravenous vampires. In lieu of silver bullets, holy water — he didn't bother with garlic, that was just silly — and any skill with stakes, he had an (albeit recorded) orchestra of magical mind control music. Hopefully vampire psyche worked like human psyche.

"Licht? What are you doing here?" There was also the little thing where he hadn't quite told Michal he didn't trust Michel to protect well enough,especially with today's lifeforce-sucking monster theme.

"If you two are going to run around looking for vampires, I'd rather come along," he said as he took off the pilot's helmet and stepped out.

"How did you get into the chopper?" Michel asked. Licht could hear the sting and ignored it.

"I pay these people. If I say, I'm replacing the co-pilot, then I replace the co-pilot."

"You can't pilot helicopters. What if there was an emergency?" Michal objected.

"What if either of you runs low on energy in the middle of a swarm of vampires? Michal, halo or not, you are still weak. I have my music ready should it become necessary. Granted, a life orchestra would have been better, but the jukeboxes will have to do."

"I'll fly ahead," Michel said sharply, and so he did, after having untangled his hair from his wings.

"I don't quite get it, but you did something rude," Michal said.

"I guess I did," Licht said with a sigh.

The two bodyguards and the pilot unpacked the load quietly. Modern technology stood for very little, especially when one had magical microphones to base their designs on, but the two guards still would have their arms full on the way up. Michal looked at the shadowed figures indifferently, but Licht by now had learned how Michal expressed discontent beyond facial expression. The sharp angle with with she turned and the stiff fingers indicated she was rather pissed off.

As they moved through the forest, up a stairway with rusty railing, he could see a flash of white beyond the foliage quite often. Michel seemed to circle the area and search for anything dangerous. That the day would come he'd compare himself to that person, but they did have something in common ... now. In fact, they had an uncomfortable lot in common. As Licht wanted to care for Michal, Michel was on his way to take care of his family in Lady Bat, Lanhua and Alala.

Michel rejoined them at the top of the hill, right before they were to enter the castle.

"I found no obvious danger, but the clan we're looking for his shifted into an alternate layer of reality. I'll open it shortly."

Up here, red bricks had been used to rebuild parts of the wall that had collapsed where once had been only gray lime stones, created a disfigured castle. The handrails were newer than on the stairs and all the more disruptive to the sight of the old ruins. But that was nothing compared to what they found upon entering the dream layer of the atmosphere.

For regular humans, this was nothing was an old ruin, but upon passing the glamor into the dream layer, the citadel seemed less haunted and more ...

"These folks subscribe to the modern day interpretation of fairy," Michal said with a hint of amusement.

"Are you certain this is the right address?" Licht muttered in evident disbelief as he looked over the hall they currently stood in, which should be too large for the room they had been in prior to shifting realms.

Its decorator did not seem very much fond of the Gothic And Angsty Vampire tradition, for the scene they found made mermaid palaces look virtually mundane. Ornamented banners and chandeliers with flames in all colors of the rainbow left little wall to be seen while a splash of vibrant blue carpets stretched across the floor. A magical orchestra of violins and flutes played by invisible hands and the tables were covered with a rich array of food and wine : breaded pork, minced meat rolls with herbs, eggplant pie ... in short, a notable lack of blood and woe.

Something else was missing too. Despite the liveliness of the hall and the aroma of freshly served food, there were no people to enjoy it.

Michel folded his wings close and walked past the extravaganza with a snort. He glared around disdainfully, but Michal curiously lingered at a candelabrum and held her fingers close to the fire, first cautious, then found her belief true : it was fake. She tried to pinch it out with her fingers, but it sprung back to life right away.

"Oh, I've been searching for this type of magic for long! I have to ask who made this," she muttered to herself. Then she took out her phone to make a few photos of the place.

Licht hummed a little as he proceeded, testing the magical fields of the area. Aside of some mild ignition magic, nothing destructive was to be found about the place. A lot of intricate weaving echoed back to his hearing, but all of it was of the docile structure magic.

With a few silent signs, Licht told the other two to spread out and look for signs of life, the boxes and player they could leave behind. The men separated into the other chambers and halls, while Licht remained close to Michal.

There, a slight rustle aside of a table with untouched snacks, and a slight distortion of light.

Licht knelt down to get a better look and much to his surprise, he found a childlike creature. It was about a meter tall, with pale skin and blue lips and eyes, clad in a hybrid of Romanian dress and modern clothing, ornamented in an almost psychedelic way. From this angle the creature was clearly visible, yet from above it blended into the surrounding; a magical optical illusion.

Clouded eyes looked up at the conductor. Licht expected panic, but it merely smiled at him.

"Strangers? Can I help thee?"

"We're looking for a certain Lady Bat, you could help us find him," Licht said while helping the unstable creature sit down in a nearby chair.

"Sorry, little ... little elevated in the head. A description?"

"Organic, transgender male, batwinged, speaks fluid Japanese, sucks people's memories and hypnotizes," said Michel, who had walked over.

"Oh, that sir! E was awesome. A little weird with the fashion sense, but awesome. Lived with our clan for quite bit of time. We fought crime and had fashion shows. And the voice! Gave us many great ideas too. Who would have thought changing into bats would be cool again?"

"Oh dear seas, are those vampires leaving a trail of sparkles?" Michal blurted out somewhere at the other end of the room. The two men looked over to see a procession of other pale humanoids pass by a door, indeed with a trail of glitter.

" _THAT_ wasn't Lady Bat's idea. That's from _The Tome of Abstinence Golems_ ," the vampire on the chair with sudden wildness.

"Never mind that. About Lady Bat, where did he, she ... whatever, where to?"

"Marvelous question. Do you know were we can find werewolves? It's all the latest thing for werewolves and vampires to make best buddies, but we don't find any!"

"I'm sorry, I do not know any werewolves. But you know Lady Bat, please tell us!" Licht urged.

Michel tapped Licht on the shoulder. "They're essentially drunk, all of them. We'll have to find a way to fully wake them up before we can expect answers."

"Answers are nice ... I can wake up." The childlike creature rubbed its eyes and yawned, then went wide eyed as it saw one of the bodyguards enter again.

"The Men In Black! They've come back!"

At once, all over the hall did creatures such as this one suddenly blend out of the surrounding, like chameleons forgetting to camouflage at the moment of danger.

"There is no need to fear these men, they are our bodyguards and have no ill will to magical creatures. Me and my two companions are magical ourselves, and we only wish information," Licht said calmly. Noting the only slow comprehension on the creature's face, he added, "The Men In Black are from a movie about aliens and don't exist and even if they did, you're either fairies or demons, but not extraterrestrials. The black suit is standard for bodyguards in Europe and many other places. "

"Really? We are? So Transylvania is in Europe now?"

"This is Romania, it has always been the location of Transylvania."

"And we be on Earth? Did thy not speak of extraterrestrials?"

Licht sighed and stood up, frustrated. "What is wrong with them?"

"You can call it being drunk, stoned or mesmerized. They've lived in this world built on scent and sight without true solidity for so long, without true waking or sleep, that their consciousness is impaired. It's in a way the opposite of the realm of my clan. Do you notice how thick everything here is? The magic, the colors, the sound ... it's a poorly built dreamlayer. We shouldn't stay here for too long."

"You're right, maybe we can take one of th — Michal, no!"

Too late. She had picked up a nearby book, charged it with energy and hit the vampire on the head.

"Solidity," she simply said, then put the book back.

"Michel, you can't just attack people like that."

"Don't try arguing over this, cause it seems to have worked. She won't back down if she was right in some way or another," Licht said with a mild smile.

The vampire indeed grew clearer eyes, and the surreal way it partially blended into the surrounding fell away entirely. Now somehow much taller than before, it stood up and said with a curt bow, "My apologies for this worthless state you find us in. Had we been awake truly, you would have been able to make a proper appointment."

It looked around and saw its kin, still dreaming and frightened, slowly sinking back into the walls and furniture and it quickly turned away from the sight.

"To answer your previous question, yes, Lady Bat had joined us in Castle Bran well over a decade ago. Life was well, until a group of humans somehow entered our realm and attempted to capture us. Lady Bat defeated them and took their memories of the place and our escape, but was unable to do anything about the information in their computer. They found us again and it became apparent they were after Lady Bat. E once more stole the memories of these people, and we moved again, but this time, Lady Bat separated from us. E said something about going undercover as a human somewhere, for our safety. E had broken into the control vehicle of the operation, we don't know what e found there, but it must have changed hes mind about staying with us. That was about two years ago and we haven't been bothered since, so they were probably after hem. I regret that I can't help you further. We would love to have him back, as you can see around here, we're not much worthy at the moment. Lady Bat kept us with our feet on the ground."

"Another dead end," Michel muttered.

"Is there any clue you can tell us as to where he might have gone, or what kind of a life he might have pursued as a human?" Michal asked.

"Let me think ... Radu Chiroptere. I once heard him speak of how he would like to start an entertainment end ... thingy ... in the human world ... It's ... what?"

**· · · · · · ·**

They left the vampires with the promise to return Lady Bat, but as the one they'd spoken to was already sinking back into sleepy bliss, that might have gone unheard. Licht couldn't help but pity them, even if they didn't seem all that unhappy.

"Michel, what's going to happen to them if they go on like this?" Licht asked when they had arrived back at the helicopter. They had gone ahead while Michal stayed behind, as she wanted to make a few photographs from the castle.

"They'll blend with their magic until they lose consciousness forever. After that I do not know. It's an unnatural existence, they're stuck between the spirit realm and the regular realm."

Licht said no more as he quietly considered whether he could afford adding these creatures to his protectorate... oh, that was no question.

Michel became nervous of the silence quickly and said, "I know you have a problem with me that never got resolved, and I don't need forgiveness. But you need to understand that I'm not here to take your place."

Licht sharply looked aside. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You're jealous."

That was probably right. Taking care of Michal had always been Licht's main goal in life, it was his duty and his drive to make up for what his father had lacked. He knew. But few take easy on others bluntly telling them denied truths.

"Jealous? I have no reason to be jealous of you, don't tell yourself things," he snapped.

"I know Michal," he said. "And she knows you."

Did that mean they'd been talking about him, or did it only refer to something Michal felt, perhaps irritation at Licht's protectiveness? Or maybe Michel just had an eye for people who leave concerns unspoken, judging by his next phrase : "She didn't want you to come, because ... because ... never mind."

Licht felt as if he'd been disarmed of his anger, and when Michel walked away he was only left bitter.

"Michel, please tell me," Licht heard himself say.

The angel stopped and with a tired tone, he said : "She hopes that Lady Bat has her memories, and that she'll become more like the first Michal ... somebody who has all aspects of a human being."

"She can't be that Michal, even she says so herself, identity hangs on brain structure," Licht said in frustration, but soon the words took effect and he fell into another silence. He looked over his shoulder and saw that Michal approached them, running. She came to a halt before them, uncharacteristically looked at the two with a mild glare, only to pass by wordlessly.

"Oh no. She's going to try to somehow do something about my mood and I don't like that she's mischievous about it," Michal groaned. Licht smiled involuntarily; he had been wondering for years whether the awkward moments that Michal initiated on convenient moments were intentional or not. There was his answer, now impatient for them to get on the helicopter.

They'd barely taken off when she told Michel : "That was nice of you, to comfort Seira when she was all anxious."

"I didn't ... uhm ..." Licht saw Michel go a little red from the corner of his eyes.

"You did something along those lines."

"I wasn't thinking clear at the time and I was out of bounds."

"Aww, you're going to do the whole _gotta keep my distance_ thing?"

"Have you been talking to Kaito?" Michel snapped.

"No. So he can tell me something interesting?" Michal replied with a broad smile.

"Nothing you're not aware of already. Drop it!"

Well, Licht had to give his sister this, for all her stupidity on the social field, pulling Michel off of his socket had the awful effect of humanizing the angel to him. Blasted.

"Okay. How about I give Seira a call then?" she said as she conjured up her phone. Michel's eyes went wide.

"She's in the middle of dealing with a refugee flock, don't bother her about this!" Michel objected. Licht made a mental note that the next time he talked with Michel about angsty subjects, he would do so when Michal was asleep, as to avoid any rash decisions on her behalf.

"That's exactly why I'm calling her now. She'll be so busy she'll probably blurt out something interesting."

"Michal! You can't act like this!" Licht said with half a heart. The other half of the heart had run off to an amused corner in his mind, and was watching from a telescope.

"Hmm ... I'm guessing I'm doing something offensive? It certainly feels that way."

"I'm starting to get why Licht is so frustrated with how you ended up," Michel muttered, realizing later than Licht what this would do. Years of interaction was hardly the same as sharing a soul separated by thousands of miles, and that was one thing Licht had in advantage to Michel : greater self control and knowing what rubbed Michal the wrong way.

Michal gave Michel a furious glare and opened the cell phone to speed dial Seira. Michel dodged for the phone, but Michal shifted in her seat and firmly set a foot against Michel's chest, pushing him to the other end of the helicopter.

"Aarrrgh!" he yelped as one of his wings twisted.

"Sorry." Michal probably meant it, but seemed first and foremost gleefully irritated at being given an excuse to not heed Michel's objections. If Licht understood this shared emotions thing correctly, Michal might actually be acting on Michel's feelings. Once, Michel had given her a feeling of obsessive devotion to Kaito in order manipulate her with ease. Did that work in reverse too? If so, did Michal realize it?

Licht watched them bicker back and forth, and despite everything, particularly a little bit of unwanted jealousy, a smile tugged at his lips. For life's sake, Michal hadn't seemed so naturally open in a long time. Neither of the two seemed to fully realize just what a spectacle they put up here, right under the eyes of two mildly baffled guards and Licht himself.

The phone rang and Michal let a little push off her foot so that Michel could at least sit more normal, but had no chance to actually grab the phone. He settled for grudging acceptance, and so they waited.

And longer.

The chopper's monotone buzzed on.

And waited.

"Why isn't she answering?"

"Perhaps she lost the phone," Licht suggested.

"Seira can't lose things, she'd find them through her dream corridor."

"But that requires her to miss them first," he countered, though he was starting to feel troubled as well.

Just then, the other line finally opened. Michal listened and said only one thing, "Yes, Michal here." Then she lowered the phone and returned to a normal sitting pose, but Michal tensed up entirely and shock was all over his face.

"What?" he snapped.

"It seems Seira is in a life or death situation somewhere below a certain Garuda's claws," Michal said casually.

"What?"

"Mr. Smith, land!" Licht ordered at once.

Not as easily said as done, so they eventually landed on the road itself. Michel was barely out or he already leaped to the sky, Licht only just managed to hold him back by grabbing a wing and pulling him back the ground.

"Calm down. Think, do you have any chance of getting there in time?"

"No, ... I can't," Michel admitted. "But I have to do something! Maybe I can find some runebed nearby or —"

"Don't worry, I'll give Lucia and Kaito a call, they can surely get there in time. It's best way stay in one spot, so they can pick us up on the way," Licht said as he pulled out his own magic phone. But though it was answered quickly, it didn't offer a solution.

"Sorry, Mr Amagi, they're off to do something about the storms," said the little princess on the other end of the line.

"Alright, please try to reach them as soon as possible and tell them what I told you," Licht said. Just then, he saw something pass between Michal and Michel. Just a quick few glances at each other and around.

"I will do my best! Goodbye Mr Amagi," come from the phone, but Licht forgot to say goodbye cause Michel had taken to the sky, wrapped three black ropes from his flute around the pilot and bodyguards and flew away with the protesting men.

"What are you two up to?" Licht demanded.

"Saving Seira," Michal said while hauling the boxes and player back out of the storage compartment.

Michel set the three men down at the top of a nearby hill, then quickly returned.

"Why did I just get rid of your bodyguards and pilot?" he asked Michal.

"The speed and altitude with which we will be going is going to cause some issues, so only people with magic air substitute can come."

"Hold, have you even thought this over?" Licht interjected.

"We Panthalassa can breathe underwater, right? I haven't tested this hypothesis, but if that magic is as illogical as I suspect it is, it should also allow us to survive during other situations that impair air supply and pressure. So yes, I have thought it over," Michal declared as she popped open her backpack. Out she took a CD with strange inscriptions and a halo much alike she had given Michel. With a few rapid movements, she had placed the halo around the edge of the CD, then took it off again and placed the thinner remnant above her head. Climbing into the front seat of the chopper, she placed the CD in the jukebox's played — now seated on the empty spot of the co-pilot — and fiddled with the wires to hook it up to the chopper's system.

"Michal ..."

"Don't worry, brother. I can pilot this thing and this CD is designed especially as power conductor. You would not have allowed me to try it. So, the people that you could tell to put me back in the helicopter and ago home are away now. Oh, and thank you for that, Michel."

"No problem, just hurry up," Michel said.

Two rational arguments collided with each other. Licht didn't exactly know what this Garuda was, but judging by Michal and Michel's response, it was a big problem to Seira. _Save Seira_ was a rational response, but so was _how the heck are we going to get there?_ The first was chosen easily, especially since clinging to the second would probably mean being left behind here. Alright, so be it.

**· · · · · · ·**

"Michal, this helicopter is not built for these insane speeds!" Licht called ten minutes later, while Michel used a wing to more or less stuff a broken window.

"Licht, please don't do that. It is bad manners to bring up the laws of physics while seated in helicopter fueled by _Caribbean Blue_."

**· · · · · · ·**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Laws Of Physics — The Sikorsky S-69 is a prototype helicopter that never hit the market, but holds the record for helicopter speed with about 518 km per hour. It would take a little over two hours to fly from Austria to Romania, assuming one had adequate fuel supply and good weather. They don't have a Sikorsky, but they have something very close to it and quite off the commercial map as well. More about that later.
> 
> The distance between their location in Romania and the location in the Indian ocean is roughly 6300 kilometers/3900 miles, a distance that would take them well over 10 hours to cross at their normal helicopter speed, meaning that at Enya-powered speed, they're traveling at 5000 kilometers per hour to get there. Humans can endure any speed, but acceleration not planned properly can be lethal. G-Force is the acceleration's pressure, and the record of G-force a human has survived is 46.2 x the force of gravity, but regular humans only endure about 17 x gravity force (horizontal axis, vertical is even less), and can only do so for a very short period of time, like, less than a second.
> 
> The Panthalassa clan however are not humans. They've lived at the bottom of the sea without any ill effect of their body, despite the massive pressure that exists there. Even Gackto, living down in an oceanic trench (he didn't die in the manga) seems to be doing perfectly fine. In fact, these guys move through water like it's not there. So, it can be assumed that Ridiculously Awesome Pressure Canceler is a superpower in this universe. Assume that everything demon/fairy/monster has it and will be able to handle a jump to plot convenient speeds without dying. Fortunately, the helicopter doesn't have it, so that's a small consolation for the laws of physics.


	9. Ameliorator

**· · · · · · ·**

Barely an hour later, the helicopter creaked dangerously. They had, against all reason, made it to the Indian Ocean in one piece. A clear blue morning sky greeted them, but only shortly. Purple and red replaced it rapidly the farther they came.

"Here we are! Everyone jump out now," Michal suddenly announced.

"What?"

"When I said I can pilot this thing I meant I can use magic to steer it in the proper direction. It's probably going to explode the moment I lessen my control cause the engine is busted in more than one way. At least, that's what I get from these flashy red lights here."

"Oh crap."

"We're getting out," Michel calmly said. He lashed his whips out of the flute and broke open one of the doors, dropping out right away. Michal got up from her seat and the helicopter promptly started to sway. Quickly Licht pulled her to the back seat and from there out of the helicopter. Had they not been Panthalassa blooded, the impact with the water would have killed them, but now they only received a dull pain in the head.

They didn't bother staying adrift and let themselves sink. A short distance away, the helicopter fallen and a dull explosion sent a shockwave through the water. Licht let go of a breath, then turned to Michal.

"Michal, are you alright?"

She nodded absently, her eyes nervously shifting around over the area. Now Licht noticed them too : hundreds of monsters of all sorts and sizes surrounded them in a wide circle, muttering fearfully in an unknown tongue.

"Who are they?" Licht wondered, half expecting Michal to know, but she didn't reply.

A long brown snake detached itself from the crowd, Licht instinctively riled up his magic in case of need. The snake however showed no sign of hostility, stopping right before them and slowly tilting up its head. On its throat was an uncanny human face, almost lifelike yet somehow ... not.

Licht guessed it was a naga, but he had never seen one like this.

"Who are you?" the naga asked in magical tongue.

"Licht and Michal Amagi, we've come to help Seira."

"Now, that is unexpected. You are the ones that made contact some time ago, were you not far away?"

"We sped up our transport, what left of it exploded back there. Please tell me, where is Seira?"

"Follow me," said the naga as it curled back the way it had come. The two half-Panthalassa followed.

At the nearest reef's edge was a gathering of orange mermaids and river demons, and beyond them a small cave entrance. One of the mermaids swam over the moment she saw Licht and Michal.

"Thank goodness you've come, this has been going on for hours! We have to get the princess out of here!"

"Calm down, please. Let me have a look at her, then you can explain."

They were led to a small cave, in which Seira lay, wounded severely. Her eyes were closed and her guards were making attempts to stop the bleeding, while sealife scattered around, nervous, anxious, carrying weed and other things they thought might help.

"She wouldn't leave all these creatures behind, so she fought," the guard at Licht's side said.

"You sound regretful of the princess doing her duty ... don't be," Licht assured her with a smile. "Now, round up everyone as quickly as possible, we need to get them in a space as small as possible."

The guard looked over to the naga, silently asking them to go. It gave no sign of acknowledgment, but swam off nonetheless. Licht couldn't help but wonder what was up there, that there was so much fear down here. Well, no time to fret.

He entered the cave and room was made for him to move close to Seira. The wounds he could not do anything about, but he had sensed the magical burden she carried. With utmost cave, he detached the barrier she upheld. The princess visibly relaxed, but did not wake up. In her stead, Licht raised his own protective shield across the water's surface. As he did so, the guard briefed him in on their enemy.

The Garudas were in great number perhaps and very strong, but they had little magic. It crossed Licht's mind how much mythic creatures nowadays seemed to rely on illusions : the area was caught by a darkening magic that made them a difficult target against the sky, but the echo to Licht's own voice betrayed little other than simple monsters.

He went outside again, now carrying the strain of the shield. Michal had sat down between the coral above the cave. A white aura surrounded her and the cross glowed on her forehead. Around her lay a naga that Licht initially mistook for the first, but which was subtly different.

"Michal, what are you doing?" he said as he swam over. The soft brush of her power as it passed through his was quite unfamiliar, and a little unsettling.

"He's running low on energy, soon he'll be compelled to eat Garuda," Michal said.

"Is that a bad thing?" the naga asked.

"Yes, eating sapients is generally considered bad. He hates it."

At this, Licht realized what she was doing.

"Michal, you already used so much of your power on getting us here!"

"He needs my help," she flatly said. Licht did understand. The last thing he wanted was for Michel to turn into a ravenous monster, but that didn't mean he wasn't worried for his little sister.

"I'll help him. You hold up the protective shield and I will give him my energy."

"Is that even possible?"

"Let's find out."

With that, Licht raised his hands to his mouth and hummed, then took Michal's hand and gave her a small sphere of light that repeated his melody. She accepted and tried channeling her energy through it, finding it a success.

Licht nodded and raised his hands to her halo. A new pulse seemed to beat in his arms, slowly making its way to his chest and into his heart. His sister began to hum in rhythm to the shield and the eb of her magic turned to flood as Licht slowly synchronized with her and Michel's energy.

Right then Licht was torn from his body, which unconsciously drifted down to the sand. His mind was pulled up, out of the water and into the sky. Before he fully comprehended it, he was with Michel across of Garuda.

"What are you doing here?" Michel said, right while dodging a claw. It scraped his arm and Licht instinctively clutched his own. The pain was as if his own body had been hit.

"Isn't that obvious? Seira is injured badly, you need to end this battle quickly! I will help you do that!"

What those words did was something Licht found difficult to describe. Michel already had been fighting for Seira's sake, now his rage was accompanied by disproportionate fear. An immature coalition of emotions betrayed Michel still very much was what Licht had feared him to be, quite capable of being a monster, even if he loathed it at the same time.

Thus distracted, Licht skipped a heartbeat when he suddenly was face to face with a giant eagle. Fierce yellow eyes and a bloody beak snapped at him but passed right through, leaving a strange, painful sensation.

"And what would _you_ be?" said the creature.

"Don't waste energy talking to him!" Michel called.

The end of a black whip curled around Garuda's leg and Michel sped backward, then swung Garuda a few dozen meters away. Garuda steadied himself quickly and renewed his attack, now ignoring Licht.

Michel managed to block every attack so far, but could not do enough damage to his enemy in return. A magic barrier prevented his whip from draining energy and thick feathers warded off any surface wounds of the whips.

Licht did his best to fill up any gap of energy in Michel's power, drawing deeper and deeper into the surrounding magical atmosphere. It was like digging into rock ground, the area was drenched with a warping magic that hindered him from tapping into earth's energies. It left Michel was a terrible hunger, compelling him to devour Garuda. The worst to Licht was that instead of disgust, he started to feel the same.

Unprepared for this feeling, Licht found himself an easier victim than Michel. He stood amidst the chaos before an abyss, ready to give into primal instincts. Still mostly lucid and far more experienced with this, it was Michel who resorted to a tactic that he had trouble trusting, especially now.

"~ Licht, I'm about to take in a lot of your power in high speed. This might hurt. ~"

"~ I'm ready, ~" Licht said and braced himself. Like a sharp cut, his energy was drawn out of him, and suddenly the primal abyss was gone, here and now was back.

Michel's flute transformed into a bow and arrow and so Licht found himself seeing through the eyes that aimed, rather than being the target. If Michel noticed his tangent of thought, then he hid it well.

Light emanated from the bow in all directions, and only now did Licht see clearly. There were many in the flock, but most were small and no match for Michel's whip, which already had done a number on them. Even Garuda who appeared so powerful at first sight, was merely a three meter tall humanoid bird.

When Michel fired, Garuda dodged easily, but Licht felt Michel was not in the least discontent. In fact, he was suppressing a smirk.

"~ Don't worry. I just need him to direct him protective barrier in _my_ direction, ~" Michel mentally told Licht.

Oblivious, Garuda dove towards what he thought was now defenseless prey, releasing a shrill war cry. Michel's smirk broke free at the some time the now distant arrow manifested a thread, one that ran back to the bow. It went right past Garuda, _through_ his protective barrier. Michel had but to whip the thread aside and it hooked into Garuda's wing.

All the released energy returned from the arrow and Michel cut the thread, leaving Garuda to deal with the overload of power. Much like electrocution occurs when one lacks grounding, Garuda was entirely vulnerable. He cried out again, not for war but by pain.

The illusion of power in this area fell into pieces and so did the link between Licht and Michel. In its stead came a terrible exhaustion and the crushing weight of waves. He was back in his own body. Michal's face he saw against the blue above him. The sky was clear again, and everything silent.

"How do you endure being linked to him?" he mumbled to her.

"I take it in stride. Anyway, we can now start worrying about this whole floating in the middle of the Indian Ocean thing. We're only half Panthalassa so the imminent hypothermia is definitely going to be a problem," she said casually.

"We may have a suggestions for you," said the naga around her.

**· · · · · · ·**

If anything, Lucia had gotten a perfect grasp of teleportation. As long as it didn't involve having to teleport other people as well. Kaito fortunately had a few powers of his own. He could handle landing in trees, though his shirt took the branches as an excuse to depart.

Lucia couldn't tell whether they had arrived at their intended location, but it was pretty flooded here, so it would do. In fact, the area brimmed with magic for some reason.

Their intent was to begin clearing away water near inhabited areas, to help the human survivors as much as possible. Unlike the magical folk, they often had nowhere to go.

Near a small town, they sat down on a fallen tree that stuck just above the mucky water. Lucia gathered up her long dress, which was getting filthy but dropped them abruptly. Whether her dress was dirty really didn't matter here. Something much bigger should have her concentration.

Still, she hesitated to begin her magic.

"It's alright, Lucia, I'll tell you when to stop."

"Okay, Kaito ... here goes all."

With a deep breath, Lucia invoked the planet's energies and expanded her soul into the water.

The water receded and a soft wind blew, carrying her gentle hymn through trees and homes. The water slowly vaporized, carried up on the energy of the would dismiss it as the whisper of the mind or a sign of spirits, and that was alright.

The feeling of waves against each other and the pull of gravity from moon and earth, it was all a perfect match that could never be wrong.

That was the problem, wasn't it? _Everything_ felt right to her. She could only delight on those pure forces, but the greater rhythm escaped her. There was nothing to tell her she was using her powers in a harmful way.

"Lucia, open your eyes, but keep singing," Kaito said after what seemed only a short time to Lucia. He pointed at the sky in the distance, where a stack of low clouds was forming.

"Begin to concentrate on the water you brought into the atmosphere. Bring it further away from here by invoking a slow wind, otherwise it will just rain down here again."

"But, how slow?"

Kaito thought for a moment, then shuffled to sit close to her and laid an arm across her shoulder. Looking alongside her, he moved an extended finger across the horizon.

"That slowly?"

"It's actually rather fast when translated to the distance. Try it, Lucia. I know you can do it."

She nodded.

Her song resumed, though this time she opened her eyes frequently to check whether it was going as intended. Every time she saw Kaito watched the clouds, sometimes with his hand out to measure.

As a surfer, having some knowledge of how water and weather worked was only natural, but that didn't mean one had meteorological knowledge. Kaito must have spent quite some time figuring out what to do. It only made her feel worse for causing this mess.

Perhaps the eighteenth time she opened her eyes, Kaito was _not_ watching the clouds. Instead, he was staring down the village. The two were low to the ground and most concealed by other fallen trees, but through these they could see some of the flooded streets and open houses.

There, a camera crew followed around a green haired girl and her workers. They seemed to be in the middle of a food and medicine distribution project.

Lucia squinted her eyes, then yelled out happily, "It's Alala!"

"Shhhh!" Kaito said as he pulled her aside. "We can't be seen here, remember?"

"Oh!" She clasped a hand before her mouth, a little too late.

Kaito looked over again and saw the girl's bodyguards head their way, probably expecting survivors. He quickly jumped into the water, pulling Lucia along. The drab brown water offered little sight, but plenty of protection from prying eyes. Nevertheless, Kaito didn't seem content to just wait around here and they saw into the forest.

"What a coincidence that she's here," Lucia said.

"Not really. She must be subconsciously drawn to this area for the same reasons as we are here. It was your magical epicenter after all. Come on, we better leave before we're seen."

Oh, this was her epicenter? She hadn't noticed ... was she supposed to know this? She was, wasn't she? Well, at least that explained why they had ended up here and not that mountain they had aimed for.

When clear out of sight, they surfaced again. Lucia's eyes stung a little from all the filth in the water. This was a whole other story from salty sea, it was like the water was sick. It smelled terrible too, like ... rot.

The realization of the dead bodies all around here didn't feel wrong to her magical senses either, even if her regular senses revolted.

She grabbed Kaito by the arm and whispered, "Please, let's go somewhere dry."

It must have been strange to hear that from the queen of the seven seas, if his expression was anything to go by.

"Lucia, what's ..." he said as he came closer to her, then his face twisted. He had stepped on something.

No longer needing to ask, Kaito quickly helped her into a broad tree nearby. Lucia's dress had become brown, but at least the scent was lesser here.

It started to rain in the distance, only a little, but she herself held back her own tears.

"Lucia, are you alright?"

"I'm alright, it's ... I'll be strong." He didn't looked convinced.

"Look at how many people Alala brought along," she said quickly, wanting anything but to talk about what she had sensed down there. She pointed at the village, which was becoming livelier and livelier. "Oh, if only we didn't have to hide, then I could use my powers to help so much more," Lucia said with a sigh.

"We're doing what we can, Lucia. Take it slow," Kaito assured her. He then pulled his cellphone out of his pocket, turning it on. "I guess this won't be breaking your concentration anymore. I'll call our palace to teleport us back, so you won't have to — what the ...?"

Lucia looked aside and saw his face turned to shock, again. Leaning closer, she saw a list of emergency calls from Seira's number.

"I guess we're not going home," Kaito muttered.

**· · · · · · ·**

Bhangarh was an not quite ancient abandoned town in the hills of North India. The ASI officially listed the site as being haunted, making it was one of the very few locations in the world that were legally recognized as the home of magic creatures. Entrance for humans was prohibited at night and now that a crisis had occurred, the ASI had closed off the entire area around the clock, which raised no question. This was no time for tourists, after all.

The city's magical presence was hidden by the same glamor that shielded the mermaid kingdom from sonars and deep sea explorers, and like that sea it had a lot to hide : to Bhangarh came all land monsters that were driven from their homes. From there on, most would go on to the Corbet National Park to the north or the Madhav National Park down south, or in case of those not able to make the rest of the journey, the nearer Sariska Tiger Reserve.

For Lucia, this was a great relief. Kaito had related to her the violent result of the encounter at the coral banks, she would have hated to go there, though she would have gone anyway if the battle had still been going on. Now, Seira had come here because she herself didn't have the power to teleport home, but some snake thingies had known how to get someone to teleport her here, where a hospital was. There was also something about a certain Hippothermostat and having to get out of the sea because of him. She'd have to ask Hippo about that later, he'd surely know who that was, being a namesake and all that.

So, Lucia and Kaito had come to Bangarh. They had arrived the city's outer walls, to avoid landing on anyone and now they walked through the crowded streets.

It didn't take long before they were recognized. First a cry of her name, then a rush of whispers through the crowd and finally an oppressive silence fell behind and ahead of them. Lucia took Kaito's arm and he sped up his pace. By the time they finally found someone whose language they spoke, the entire city knew the Aqua Regina was here.

Michal was the first they found, seated in a circle of naga as she monotonously spoke about things Lucia didn't follow.

"Michal!" Kaito called when Michal didn't notice them.

The woman looked up and walked over tiredly.

"Kaito, Lucia, hello," she said, staring past them to the wall. "Seira is alright. She is asleep now, upstairs. Michel is with her. My brother is guarding Garuda. Why are you late?"

Kaito quickly related what he knew, while Lucia still held onto his arm.

The gift and curse of empathy was one distributed to Lucia by chance, a sporadic awareness, a breeze that passed by so now and then, yet she remembered what she felt, and the longer she stayed here, the more memories were made. It seemed to take ages before Michal finally led them to Seira's location.

A makeshift hospital, crowded like the streets, was their destination. Thin fly nets tried in vain to keep the mosquitoes out and the stench in. Here a perfect silence could not settle, all around was coughing, moaning and crying. Lucia felt her eyes become damp, as to her it was more than just sounds.

Seira lay in human form on a bed on the top floor. An old turtle lady treated her injuries and Michel had knelt down at the other side of the bed. He was assisting by holding up bandages and medicine, this being likely the only thing his inexperience allowed him to do.

Here too she felt something. The aura of the deceased emperor had been one of enduring sadness, noble and loving. Michel on the other hand was surrounded by an air of grudge, mostly against himself, and there was something wild and aggressive held captive within him. Though she found that on the last point, he did have everything in common with the old emperor. Seira was in more than one set of good hands.

When he tensed up upon realizing she had arrived, she smiled at him.

"Hello, Michel. May I sit with you?"

"Off course, Aqua Regina," he said without looking her in the eyes.

Sitting down, Lucia reached for the locket around Seira's neck, taking out the orange pearl and cupping it into her hands. Within one's breath lay the potential for sound and song, and it could carry lifeforce to a closely connected soul. Due to the time she had carried Seira's unborn soul there still existed a link between them, so it was an easy task accomplished.

Seira's eyes opened, much to Lucia's relief. Michel promptly placed an arm behind the orange princess' back, helping her sit up, while the healer handed Seira some foul smelling concoction. Seira took it and swallowed it in one go.

Now she was awake, Lucia felt her emotions come to turmoil. Seira was angry at something, but to what? Nothing here ... no, but then where?

"Oh, Lucia! ... You're late," Seira said with a growing smile that betrayed nothing of what she felt like.

"I'm sorry, Seira," Lucia said. "We were a little busy elsewhere, so I'm really glad Licht and Michal en Michel were there for you."

"I know, I saw it in my dreams. They all worked together..." Seira became happy remembering this, it drowned that odd anger away. She preferred finding people happy. On that topic, there was way too much misery here.

The queen stood up and said, "You'll feel even better in a moment, I promise."

"What will you do?" Michel asked. He still didn't look at her, Lucia noticed, but maybe that was because he was helping Seira lay down.

"I'm really bad at composing songs myself, but there is a library in my new castle with many songs written down. I have made sure to learn as many as possible over the past years," Lucia said. "I screw up a lot, but there's not much that can go wrong with this, I am certain."

Michel opened his mouth to say something, but changed his mind and looked down at Seira again. Lucia felt an apology stuck in there somewhere. That was enough for her, she didn't need to hear it.

Kaito walked her to the tallest building, but she went up the roof alone.

**· · · · · · ·**

Lucia's symphony of healing carried across the city and replaced murmurs of pain with a sigh of relief. Grudges did not fade, but they did weaken. To Seira it brought a peaceful sleep, one that almost caught Michel too. He would not allow it though, not yet.

The angel went out the window and sat down on another roof, watching the sea goddess as she sang. She had summoned her staff, which gleamed and shone as it spread power, yet her white dress was dirtied by water. She probably hadn't realized she could use magic to restore it, but at least she had her mind at her task.

Lucia had something childish about her, even now. Always a child of the sea, it seemed impossible she would one day be its mother. Even Seira, the youngest ruling princess, seemed to have a more matured understanding of the world.

"There's a little of her true voice in there, you know. Lucia can't sing well without magical aid, but she's been learning, " a familiar voice said from behind. Michel looked over his shoulder, seeing an once more shirtless Kaito.

"It works well enough for Seira and the other patients here, true voice or not," Michel said.

"Yes, I've seen. Actually, I was expecting you would stay with Seira."

"Garuda is still here, I can't afford to sleep until I know he is no longer a threat."

"Well, I'm going to deal with that now. I'd rather have anyone with fighting ability nearby."

"I'll be there," Michel said. "Probably before you. I do assume you're going to find yourself something more to wear, right?"

"Oh ... yes."

Garuda was held by an ibarrier at the center of what once had been a grand hall. Licht sat aside of the entrance, humming the Ode To Joy in a rather lifeless way. The barrier was not his doing, rather it belong to a circle of local monsters, but he was responsible for keeping the bird monster calm. When he saw Michel, he looked up for a moment and nodded, but then closed his eyes again and continued his mind control.

Now wearing something that might have been either a shirt of a sack, Kaito stepped through the door. In plain light, the monster was far less impressive. Garuda sat cross legged and head down, eyes closed, but acutely aware of the surrounding. When Kaito entered, he slowly raised his head and looked at Kaito with drained eyes.

Michel stood a few steps behind Kaito, flute in hand and ready to defend, but the sight of the monster caught him a little off guard. Garuda's face was like an eagle, yet more square and defined and with eyes a little more facing forward, a little more towards man that should be to feel at ease. Under a ruffled feathercoat one could see a malnourished body with poorly healed scars. Nothing was left of the abstract shadow he had been before.

The emperor of the seas faced off with what ought to have been one of the mightiest of the birdfolk, yet it was lacking all epic resonance. Now out of his power and hungerdriven rage, Garuda looked almost pathetic, yet Kaito was still the smaller, weaker in form and didn't exactly look royal.

"You forgot to prepare a speech?" Garuda finally said.

Kaito just shrugged and smiled. "I was hoping you'd start, actually."

Garuda's kin, like the naga, had little of the same expressions as the more human species. Michel couldn't tell what the flick of wings meant, but it wasn't a positive thing, as Garuda remained silent.

Kaito's continued, "I understand your food problem, but you should know better than to attack a mermaid princess."

"I should know better than to attack a lot of things," Garuda said, "but one has to take risks to survive. The Yeren and Yeti we usually feed on are becoming smarter and scarcer. We don't have the stomach and mouths to feed on plants and can't keep cattle without humans finding us. So, what, if not other monsterfolk?"

"You should have approached us for help instead. Believe it or not, we're willing to help both nagas and garudas."

"Oh really? You merfolk will be lenient? Say, who is singing out there? That woman?"

Kaito hesitated, but then said, "My wife, Lucia."

"She is the new Aqua Regina, is she not?"

"What about it?"

"The first Aqua Regina must be a very lovely and wise appearing person, for nobody realized she condemned thousands of years worth of children to the bottom of the sea. Locked away, without chance of redemption, paying for the crimes of their ancestors. That is _your_ justice too?"

"For the former queen's case, I'll admit that my ancestors gave her a good reason to act. For my own case, I'm pretty sure the Panthalassa are not inherently evil. Had the Aqua Regina given the Panthalassa children a chance, she would never have needed to use up all her power to create a seal strong enough to imprison a nation for eternity. She created an enemy in my brother Gackto and it might well have been me too."

"Seems you know after all. So why aren't the Panthalassa free yet?"

"It was Lucia's intent to release them at once. But both me and my brother have reasons to wait before that happens. Reasons that do not concern you."

"Huh, reasons ... that means a pretty bleak outlook for me, doesn't it?"

"Under normal circumstances, that you have killed sapient lifeforms would earn you seal time. But if I imprison you now, your people will go uncontrolled and might just decide to start killing out of vengeance, no longer limited by their need for food. If I seal all of them, I'd use up too much power of myself. So, to avoid creating enemies and to ensure that I won't land in a position where I cannot stop other enemies, I will set you free. You will leave this area and return to your people, and we will try to solve your problems," Kaito said with a clear oice. Then he turned to Michel. "Will you please go tell those who cast this barrier to dissolve it?"

Michel was seconds away from objecting. Too much of Garuda reminded him of how he himself had been and the world shouldn't see anything like that run loose. Yet he also understood Kaito's reasoning. It wasn't just the Panthalassa Clan that deserves a chance to live without being forced onto a certain way, and though Michel still did not believe he himself deserved forgiveness, who was he to tell anyone how and when to give it?

So he went. The casters, a group of wise elder monsters, were as surprised as Michel to hear Kaito's judgment. They would rather see Garuda executed, but ultimately respected the decision. Their reasons were that since Garuda was caught by someone who had been in service or allegiance — Michel was deliberately vague in explaining his relation with Seira — of a mermaid princess, Garuda thus fell under Kaito's dominion. For now, at least.

Michel emerged from their council house just in time to see Garuda fly up, reaching eye level with Lucia and pausing to look at her. Lucia was still singing, though when she saw Garuda she faltered once. Yet then, she directed her staff at Garuda. The haze of light that surrounded her intensified for a moment and Garuda jerked into attack position, only to relax when the healing power too effect. He visible started to looked healthier and his scars seemed to grow less prominent.

Garuda looked at her in confusion, but then bowed his head respectfully though shortly. Then he was off.

"Did she just heal him? Why?" Michel asked.

"That's just how Lucia is," Kaito said with a smile.

**· · · · · · ·**


	10. Mistake

 

 

 

**· · · · · · ·**

Seira surfaced at the foggy island and took in a deep breath. The magic responsible for breathing in both worlds was faltering a little for some reason, causing her to cough as water poured out of her lungs. Instinctively she brought her hands to her mouth.

Once it was all out, she stared a little stunned at the water dripping off her hands. Breathing hurt for moment and she worried over whether this was her being too tensed or whether something was amiss with the magic in this area.

"Mahahanu, Uchochikha, do you notice anything wrong with the magic?" The two nagas emerged and sniffed.

"Nothing we can detect."

Well, that would explain why she hadn't been able to directly teleport onto the beach. The corridor magic was unaffected, but something was amiss with the aquatic magic. The three swam to the island and Seira tried transforming, but nothing happened.

The nagas actually blinked in confusion, despite usually open eyed without stop.

A wave of panic set across her, but she forced herself to stay calm. Nothing else was out of the ordinary, this was just a depletion of magic. Soon enough, it should smooth out.

"Could you two please go onto the island and call Michel?"

"Off course, princess."

She waited on the beach, lying on her back and gazing up. The rising sun turned the fog in a bright veil and there was a strange green tint to the sky still visible right above her.

A few of the monsters approached her, most of Michel but also a few creatures from India; small refugees that could find a home here. She noticed many of them seemed uneasy. Specifically, those with a link to the sea. A river sprite was constantly chattering, a hummingbird-rhinoceros-seasnail fluttered about anxiously, but a serval-hedgehog-squirrel seemed perfectly at easy and a cow-chinchilla was lazily grazing on a shrub.

Hmm, the plantlife here was evolving to accommodate the animals. The flowers were definitely larger than when she had seen the island for the first time, and the trees were taking on strange shapes. Was this Michel's doing?

If his presence, or perhaps deliberate actions, could manipulate plantlife, then perhaps he could do something about the food problems in the sea. She would like to bring him down there though, and she was averse to that. Her kingdom hadn't responded too positively to the news that she had frequent company from Michel. She could understand why, off course, but their whispers hurt nonetheless.

She envied Lucia a little, who could always rely on Kaito. Seira had managed as sole monarch for more than a decade, but a little help would be nice. It might be better for Michel too if he were to come to her kingdom, rather than idling around on this island.

That was what she _wanted_ , but it was not the _wise_ thing to do. In a time this politically tense, she couldn't afford to divide her people even more. It wasn't just her own kingdom having doubts, Coco was having trouble too and Lucia's kingdom was a little too unattended.

But, maybe they could figure out something to harness whatever growth power was at work here in something portable. It wasn't the situation she wanted, but it would at least give Michel something to feel good about. Maybe in another decade or so, she could invite Michel over to her kingdom and ... he _was_ going to stay on earth, right?

Mahahanu and Uchochikha's faces appeared above her so suddenly that Seira startled.

"Michel is not on the island, he is out on the sea on the other side. Will you go meet him?"

"Off course." The nagas nodded and turned into the jungle again without a word. Seira guessed they'd want to give her time alone, or perhaps they'd met interesting monsters. She never could tell easily what was on their minds.

She quickly swam around the island and found Michel far off shore, sitting on a lone rock. He was dangling his legs in the water and had his flute on his lap.

"Hey Michel, what are you doing so far out here?" she said as she splashed up.

He'd been looking at the sky, now turned to her with a smile. "Seira. I'd come out here to help some of my aquatic monsters, apparently there's an ebb in sea magic. They're back on the island, I stayed as I realized how quiet it was out here. Don't get me wrong, I love my monsters but now that it's getting so crowded ... Who would've thought there'd be a day I'd like to be alone?"

She chuckled. "I know that feeling."

"So how are you doing, Seira?"

She lightly leaned on Michel's knee. "If you mean my wounds, they are nigh gone. If you mean my magic, I just had to seal a criminal and feel tired. If you mean my mind, I'm holding up."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Yes, you can. Please, play and grant me a few minutes without worrying about politics."

With a nod, he brought the flute to his lips. Seira laid down her head on his leg and wondered whether this little gesture made Michel as nervous as it made her. If it did, he was good at hiding it. She missed the ability to feel his emotions.

She listened for a while, peacefully. The sea magic continued feeling weak around her, but Michel's music had magic of its own that oddly gave her strength. Not just metaphorically, she guessed it was through the earring he'd given her.

 

She had another gift from another source, namely a phone, which she wanted to crush as soon as it rang. Michel stopped playing.

"Aren't you going to take that?"

"Yes," she said grudgingly. She conjured up the phone, an orange little mobile, and answered.

"Oh, Hanon? Yes, I did notice something odd ... no, I haven't been near a television anytime recently ... no, no human civilization at all."

Michel worriedly looked down at her, she was about to ask him more about what he'd noticed. Just then, Hanon said it.

"Lucia did ... no, no no no ... _**WHAT**_?"

 

 

**· · · · · · ·**

Lucia was getting a little impatient. There were so much helicopters, surely they could bring someone over here to greet her formally?

The great wall of water still stood behind her. Perhaps they were frightened by it, though she thought that the song she had sung upon arrival would have made it clear that she came in peace.

She decided to lower it.

When she did so, the helicopters dared to come a little closer and startled circling her. She raised herself in the air on a water tentacle and grabbed the nearest helicopter by freezing water around the lower end. The blades kept spinning and the machine threatened to break the ice, so she froze those too; this took a little more effort. She hoped she wasn't messing up the aquatic magic balance with all this.

That done, she stepped before the window and knocked on it, smiling. The man inside looked terrified, plus he wouldn't be able to hear her with that helmet on.

Oh, right, she had magical microphones. She conjured up her microphone, adjusted it for passing matter without being painfully loud and said, "Hello, I am Lucia, empress of the Seven Seas. I come in peace, please take me to the president."

He mouthed something, and she realized she had no idea how to get sound to come to her. She gestured at the door, and after some hesitation, he stepped out onto a small ice platform that she made.

"So?"

"Eh, lady ... whatever language you're speaking, I don't speak it."

Oops. She was so used to speaking to magical creatures she'd been expecting the translation magic to work for humans as well. She had been speaking Japanese the entire time.

English it was!

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I spent most of my time in the human world speaking Japanese. My apologies. So, I was saying that I come in peace and would like to speak to your leader."

The man blinked, then wiped a hand over his face, mumbling something before finally forming a coherent sentence : "Right ... ehm, eh ... who are you?"

"Like I said, Lucia, the queen of the seven seas. Nice to meet you, may I know your name too?"

"What ... what are you?"

"The queen of the seven seas."

"But ... just ... I mean ... I'm human. What are you?"

"Huh ... I used to be a mermaid, but I think I'm a goddess now. At least, as far as the powers are concerned. So can you take me to the president?"

"If you come in peace, then why did you threaten to flood the city?"

"Oh, it did? It wasn't supposed to look like a tidal wave. I tried making shapes of flowers and dolphins in the waves to make it clear it was peaceful. I guess that wouldn't be too obvious though, if they didn't understand what my song was about. Anyway, I tried phoning people for a normal appointment, but nobody believed me when I said I am the queen of the seven seas, so I decided to make a big entrance."

That, and she was a little afraid she'd skewer the teleportation magic. For that same reason, she accepted a helicopter ride.

The White House was very formal and colorless, Lucia thought. It was better than the palace of the Aqua Regina though, especially if they'd agree to let her touch up the place a little. No algae or mucus or other itty bitty things crawling everywhere.

The president was likewise very formless. He introduced himself as indistinct, for some reason. He even signed his letters with N. Distinct. Some of those letters had fallen to the ground, reminding her a bit of her own chaotic desk. He must have been very surprised to hear about his visitor.

He certainly didn't quite know what to say, so Lucia just cheerfully introduced herself, performed a little magic by letting her regal staff grow coral and then launched into exposition for the president and the staff, which was gathering around. She was offered a chair, but declined it. In all honesty, she was way too excited herself to sit still.

She talked of the nature of magic, of her kingdoms, her idol powers and the hidden magic across the world, nature being destroyed and various other things that randomly came too mind. She was sure she wasn't turned the global mermaid population to foam by sharing this all — she would have noticed the shift in the world's lifeforce — so she just gleefully kept going to her increasingly confused audience.

"See, the former Aqua Regina lost all her power while sealing a dangerous enemy many centuries ago. I've recently been appointed as her successor and now I am here for world peace," Lucia said to conclusion.

"I'd say it's about time, especially after that disaster in India," one of the men muttered.

"Well, I'd love to help make India better! I have the power to control water, but I don't really know how to best use it ... I mean, you have all these weather balloons and stuff, you can tell me where to use my powers, and I'll do it. Really!"

"Given that giant watery wall, I believe you," the indistinct president said.

"You and the Indian government get all the people to safety and give them food and everything, while I restore the lands. I'll need them to be out of the way so I can make a storm to carry the water off and you'll tell me where to put the water best. And then we can go fix the deserts. You'll do the agriculture part and the plans, I'll do the ecosystem. How about it?"

"Queen .. eh, Lucia, please, let us take this slowly. We cannot drum up a rescue operation right now or think about deserts just yet. Our nation is in chaos. The entire world is. Do you realize the panic your appearance has caused?"

The man gestured, a television was wheeled closer and switched on.

Nearly every channel featured a news report on the event. When the water wall was not depicted, it was the opinions of people. The first report of other magical activity came from Australia, where a lungkata had been dragged from its cave and beaten to death. Next was in Russia, where a fight had broken out over an alleged feather of the golden bird. Nessia wasn't in Loch Ness at all, nor a plesiosaur. Just a waterhorse on the shore, a very _mortal_ waterhorse. The police claimed the body, but people kept hunting for the rest.

"What ... why is this happening?

"You don't understand?" one man said, utterly baffled. "Mass paranoia and natural phenomena can no longer be used to explain the unexplainable. Now there's actual mass paranoia. Queen Lucia, your actions have launched a world wide hunt for the supernatural."

Lucia's lower lip started to quiver as the realization sank in. Off course she had heard humans might harm the mermaid kingdom if they ever found out, but she had thought it would just be a few humans out for money, hunting them. She hadn't considered what fear could make ordinary people do. Heck, it still seemed absurd to her. For Lucia, it had always been reality that when she sang to people, the world became better.

The entire room watched her intently. Before she could speak to them, the door burst open. There stood a shirtless, upset Kaito with one of the Panthalassa rods and black suited people flooding in to grab him. Kaito spun around, somehow gathered the lot behind the rod and shoved back towards the door.

"Enough, will you just let me talk?" he shouted. Something white and blurry appeared from behind right then and a few of them men fell. Them gone, Kaito managed to get them out of the door before any guns were fired.

"Oh, he is my husband! Please don't hurt him!" Too late, Kaito already slammed the door shut and spun around to face Lucia.

"What have you done?" He sounded like he spoke to a stranger.

She looked away. "I've ... I guess I made a mistake."

"This is exactly why I didn't want the Panthalassa Clan to go up! One mistake, and they would have caused something like this! I've explained you this countless times!" She was used to Kaito always having a shred of kindness for her, but it wasn't really the first time he'd fallen out against her, nor was it the first time she had been shortsighted. In light of what she'd just seem happen on television, it actually seemed irrelevant that _Kaito_ was angry at her. There were a lot of others with a lot more reason to be angry.

"Yes, you did," she said with a weak smile.

The door burst open again, but Kaito's shirt wrapped around the nearest man's arm and pulled him out again. The entire room just stared, until the president remembered to sign his security to a stand still.

"Magic shirts ... why not?" Lucia heard him say.

"Ehm, Kaito, meet the president! He hasn't told me his name yet, though he is indistinct ... it's kinda funny, I always thought that was a word and not name ... " she trailed off, her eyes on the television again. She was distantly aware of the president and Kaito speaking. The griffin being shredded by a plow was rather distracting.

"Queen Lucia, I will need to address the nation now. Please do us the honor of appearing with me. It is crucial that the world is assured of your good intentions."

"Oh ... off course."

**· · · · · · ·**

Seira felt something wrong before they reached the end of her stairway. When she stopped, Michel nearly bumped into her.

"Someone took control of the end of my stairs," she whispered.

"Let's go back."

Right then, the stairs collapsed. As they were only a few steps from the bottom, they didn't fall hard. Michel helped Seira stand and they looked around.

The light of Michel's halo fell onto a smooth gray floor, but otherwise it was pitch black. The magic that allowed her to see at the ocean floor didn't work here. Seira rubbed a pained shoulder and took a step closer to Michel.

"Where are we?"

Michel took the halo from his belt and balanced it atop his fingers, pouring his magic in it and lightening up the space around. Seira saw his eyes widen, but had to wait a moment for her own eyes to adapt before she saw it herself.

They were in an underground hall so vast they could not see any walls. Pillars surrounded them at even intervals, their surface carved with ornaments that led up to domed ceilings. It had something of a cathedral or a tower ... not unlike Michel's tower had looked years ago.

"It must be the remnant of one of our old cities," Michel whispered in amazement.

"Are you certain? How can they remain undiscovered for so long, when no one magical is around to attend to it? With all the modern day technology, your old cities should have been discovered."

"Someone probably did, otherwise we'd be in the White House by now. My people used to have some control over the spirit world even before fully moving there, it's not unreasonable that anyone could influence your stairways if they control this place."

"So how are they doing up there?" said someone neither herself nor Michel. Startled, the two turned around and saw a redhead in black leather step from behind a pillar. Her bluehaired sister appeared on the pillar's other side.

Seira relaxed, but only a little, as she recognized the Black Beauty Sisters. She had spent some time with them while locked inside Michel's wings and knew them to have a kinder side. Still, they were mercenaries and had never truly reconsidered that.

"Mimi, Sheshe, what are you doing here?" Michel said, clearly stunned but not suspicious.

"Welcoming you two, _obviously_!" Mimi said with a smirk.

"Why?"

"Our bosses thought you might like to see a familiar face. We may just have represented our relation with the mermaids a little more rosy than realistic, you see."

"Your bosses?"

Sheshe nodded. "There's plenty of shapeshifters around, but they're usually magical creatures who turn human. We were ordinary but obscure creatures turned into magical ones. You have no idea how happy they are to have agents that can infiltrate almost any place because the magic barriers aren't calculated for Linophryne Densiramus. Now, why don't you two follow us?"

Michel looked at Seira and hesitated.

"Come on, it's no trap. We forgave you for the whole cannibalism thing, you know that. Got no problem with your princess either," Sheshe said. "Now, if you'd have brought a certain little siren along, that's be a different story."

"I guess it won't hurt more than standing here," Seira said. Michel nodded and took her hand, going ahead.

The Sisters led them to a far end of the hall, where they passed into a door and into a brightly lit room. What once had been a solemn ruin had been transformed into something akin to a modern day office. The walls had been repainted and humans muled about carrying boxes, papers or nothing. Some slowed down to look at Michel in wonder, but none seemed too startled by the existence of angels. Nobody stopped or addressed them, save for a few polite greetings.

It was quickly apparent the business wasn't at all in ordinary state, if the coffee stains, anxious looks and lost papers were any indication. The name Lucia was dropped a few times.

They were led to a large office where only one person was, seated behind a desk before a wide but closed window. The back of the rotating chair was towards the door, so Seira only saw a hand. It was the hat she recognized first, it was on a standard near the door.

"Boss, did you order a fish and bird for dinner?"

The man turned around in his rotating chair almost as if he came straight from a corny action movie, the leader of the secret hero organization about to dispatch the protagonist. He certainly had the old looks and smile for it.

"You?" Michel whispered.

It was the old man who had come to applaud him after his battle in the Taj Mahal.

"Yes, me," the man said. "You may call me mister Archon. I am pleased to finally make your acquaintance, Michel and princess Seira. I've heard you two were involved in saving the world once, which means we have a goal in common."

The Sisters walked over to him, Mimi sat on the desk before him while Sheshe leaned on the back of his chair, pointing a flat hand at the man. "Our new boss. Not as pretty as our previous fare, I admit, but he pays _much_ better."

The man chuckled, then said, "I reckon you two must be confused, so let me explain. We are an organization sworn to protect the magical creatures from the human world. At the Taj Mahal, we were about to make a move on the smugglers ourselves when you appeared. I came personally as I was curious since it happens so rarely that someone beats us to it. There aren't many trying, you see."

Inwardly, Seira cringed. It wasn't an accusation to her, but she knew where it fell.

"I see. What else do you know of us?" Michel said.

"He knows what we told him," Sheshe said. "The whole freaky alter ego deal of Michal and her daddy's experiments. That's about it."

"You know about the Amagi family?" Michel asked.

The man nodded. "Off course. Who do you think provides them with bodyguards silent enough to not say a thing about all the supernatural ongoings at their house? Now, I will admit I am curious to your nature, especially since my lovely ladies here are rather vague about the scientific side. However, this will have to wait. Princess Seira, my deepest apologies that we redirected your attempt to teleport to your queen's side. We have set out magic to blocking all such attempts by default. You see, you are not the only ones to attempt to pay the White House a visit right now."

Spinning around again, he opened the blinders on the window behind him with a button on the seat's edge. It gave sight onto an adjacent hall, this one full of magical life. Makeshift walls had been thrown up for the monsters to have some privacy as they waited, a few were detained in corners. Humans walked around them to distribute food and pamphlets, as well as breaking up a few fights.

The old man pointed out various creatures and explained why they were here. Anansi had teleported in to start a nice game of deception. A youkai group from the far east had come to assassinate Lucia before she could spill anything. Bastet wanted to announce herself as empress of the lands, ruling together with her good friend Lucia (Seira knew they had barely met and Bastet had an unsavory tendency to talk about mermaids as fish and of fish as food).

"We're currently working on allowing your staircase to go through our shield. When this occurs, it would greatly help if you bring in the other mermaid princesses. It is of great importance they establish themselves as queens of the oceans, that is, on paper in the human world."

He had a point. Seira took out her phone and managed to reach everyone but Hanon, who was apparently busy with finding in a way of her own. If so, the barrier would probably lead her here.

It was Rina who asked first whether there was any way to undo what Lucia had done, a desperate bid that she probably knew would not work. Seira asked Archon anyway.

The old man smiled bitterly and tiredly said, "How? Our best shield was that few really wanted to believe and even then we were constantly removing evidence. We barely managed to pass up that global monster invasion as mysterious solar rays effects, accused all recordings we couldn't erase as fabrications. But that invasion, who ever led it, didn't exactly leave a lot of corpses. This time, it's the humans who are doing the damage. Even if there would be another global mindswipe spell, they would eventually find out." He leaned his forehead on a hand and closed his eyes. "So many years trying to keep the world at balance. And now, poof, my family's legacy gone."

Seira sighed, she could sympathize there. Sheshe and Mimi couldn't, they just rolled their eyes and looked bored. Michel though seemed rather tensed and was glaring at the floor, for a moment Seira felt glad they hadn't managed to appear right before Lucia. Michel might just have lost his temper at the wrong time.

Herself, she just felt tired and a little bit hopeless. Oh, Lucia, once she had been Seira's protector and teacher, now it seemed Lucia needed a protector against herself.

"We know she caused the disaster in India. I would have thought she would have learned her lesson from that," said Sheshe.

"Maybe she learned the wrong lesson," Mimi said mischievously. She took up a remote and turned on a nearby television. "Let's have a look."

Lucia and the president were giving a speech to calm the word. Seira had never before seen Lucia put the words love and peace into a sentence _without_ looking like a shining beacon of altruism. She looked unusually serious and gloomy, despite a dim little smile.

One channel further, and it was clear it didn't do much. People were still fleeing from the east coast, with was solemnly covered by a somewhat disbelieving and confused reporter. "We urge people to stay at home, our nation is not under attack. Please remain calm."

On another channel, the whole matter was discussed by someone someone in gleeful denial. "We caught some glimpses of what insiders say is her husband. Mermen apparently have a cultural taboo against covering their chest."

"It's going to be a blast when they hear that whole thing with Lucia not even being raised as a princess!" Mimi chirped. "Cause _we all know_ the _bes_ t way to prepare someone for a job is to prepare them as little as possible, preferably by not telling them they're even supposed to do the job! How's your country doing, Seira?"

"I should get us some of that stuff that that fortune teller of hers was smoking when she decided that ignorance is the best preparation for a hard future," Sheshe said. "Must be fabulous."

"Oh, sister, about that, someone should tell the humans soon that fate exists and can be predicted. Won't it be hilarious to see a whole slew of fake prophets take their chance? Should we?"

The man raised his hands. "Dear ladies, please, let's not make it anymore difficult than it already is."

"Oh, don't worry, old man," Sheshe said, patting him on the shoulder. "But seriously for a moment. You pop up again, Michel, and not too much later Lucia starts screwing up this big?"

"She's been thinking about it for a while ... I ... I may have told her something that sealed her decision."

"Talk about good intentions gone wrong. So what did you tell her?"

Michel averted his face. Seira decided this was a great time to divert the topic.

"Is there anything we can do? What will happen next?" she asked Archon.

"I'm already sending out as much people as possible. Michel is better off staying here, I don't think it would help much of angels are thrown into the mix. Princess Seira, you should be able to start gathering your fellow royalty in about ten minutes."

"Thank you. Where should I gather them?"

"Please do so in the room down the hall. My assistant outdoor will show you. Mimi, Sheshe, please go attend to Ireland."

Seira followed the assistant and Michel followed Seira. Inside the room, Seira conjured up six other dream passages for the rest. She told the assistant they would work two ways, once the others had arrived here, they should descend back up to arrive. Hanon might either be late or already in.

She didn't want to waste more time, so she went ahead herself. Just when she was about to step up the stairs, Michel took her hand.

"May God be with you," he said.

"Thank you," she said, briefly squeezed his hand and left.

As she ran across the stairway, she wondered why of all times he'd said that now. It was his way to encourage her, but it only made her nervous. She could not even keep her own kingdom in one piece, now she had to go stand before so many more eyes. If God was indeed watching, then she hoped he'd at least be more supportive than what she could expect of the human world.

Seira stepped right out of the wall in the central room. She was under scrutiny of security guards at once, but they lowered their guns once they got a better look at her. Apparently, Hippo had joined them and had been handing out photos of any princesses that might be arriving.

She was led to Lucia, who had returned from her speech a while ago. Now she was sitting on a couch, face in her hands. Seira saw tears down her chin. Kneeling before her, she touched Lucia's arm.

"Seira," Lucia said when she looked up, quickly wiping her tears away. "I didn't ... I didn't think this would happen."

Seira had no idea what to say. Lucia was one of those closest to her heart, but what she had done was worthy of banging one's head against the wall in frustration. "It's ... it'll be alright," was all she could bring out, and even that sounded weak and faithless.

"Seira, perhaps you could call —" Kaito said.

"They should be on their way the moment they return to their palaces, where I left the other end of my stairways. Though, we might expect Hanon sooner, I couldn't reach her, so sh—." Barely had she said this, or Hanon fell out of mid air. The sizzle of a fireworks teleportation spell lingered for a moment while a singed Hanon got to her feet.

"Hanon," Lucia said weakly.

"Lucia, what in the world are you doing?"

"I ... I'm failing."

"What the ... No! Don't think like that! I don't know why the heck you did this, but you gotta stand strong now. People will surely accept the magic soon enough, you can make it happen faster. I meant, what are you doing, sitting there? Get up!" She sounded as desperate as Seira felt, albeit far less restrictive on that emotion. "Come on, there's a camera out there, right? Let's sing for the world!"

She looked between Lucia and Seira, but when neither responded, Hanon said, "I can't believe this! You two are just going to hang around here?"

"I don't think I can sing like this," Lucia said in a broken voice. Hearing that and how it resonated with herself, Seira felt like the oceans dried out.

Hanon shook her head. "We can stop this, come on!"

**· · · · · · ·**

They _couldn't_ stop it.

There were virtually no laws to protect the mystical from violence. Neither world's end had achieved the level of chaos that spread across the globe now. Rampant slaughter and discrimination was exchanged between two deeply rooted world that saw one another as something to be feared.

Countries that refused to establish laws to protect the mystical came into conflict with those who did. Religions staggered or were built. Stocks crashed or skyrocketed over superstition and waves of whimsical numbers, in part due to the sudden belief in fate and enchantments.

Worst was the death. It did not take the highly connected world long to get an idea of what magic worked like, its vulnerabilities and strengths. Humans as a mass, regardless of prior affiliation, now united against the existence of magic. The 30 % of the globe's surface that made up the fractured human world suddenly realized that there was an perfectly united empire that covered the other 70 % of the globe, without them ever having realized its existence. They had something in common now.

Too late for a global memory wipe : the powers that had caused that had been linked to the Ancients itself through the splinters of Michel's dimension. Now, there was no reset button for the greatest error of judgment that Lucia could have made out of the goodness of her heart.

And the old Aqua Regina never said a word.

**· · · · · · ·**


	11. Eccedentesiast

**· · · · · · ·**

Territorial waters aside, no human countries had claimed the oceans. So Lucia wondered, why was it such a hassle to get them to recognize the seven seas as sovereign states? It wasn't like they'd have to give up part of their kingdoms. Some people had tried to explain it, but there were a lot of words in there Lucia couldn't follow. Poor Hippo was always hauling around a folder as big as himself, filled with information to remind her of protocols and names.

Other than him, she had no friends at her side. The other princesses had quickly returned to their own seas since these were crowding with boats now. She hoped the young Pink Princess would be able to handle things, she was still so young and made sure to call her every day. She didn't like that she often heard crying on the other end of the line.

Kaito had decided to do something about the chaos in a more direct way. He had unofficially joined the organization in traveling the globe and sticking up for magical victims. Along the way, he said, he was dropping by governments and talking to them. She didn't quite get it, why did she have to stay here and only give speeches? Kaito was powerful, but he had no songs that could bring out the best in people.

Granted, right now he was in Russia and she couldn't exactly help him there. She had a bit of a problem with turning ice to water. Not that she couldn't keep any boiling water tentacle away from innocent people, it just was that to _get_ water in such a cold area, she needed to mess with the temperature of the area's water, and all living creatures just so happened to consists of sixty percent water.

So, she still was in America. Officially she stayed at the White House and spent her time talking with royal visitors and giving scripted speeches. Often she sat around apparently doing nothing, so she was happy when they got her a Visa, which for some reason allowed her to travel more freely and let talk shows invite her.

She had accepted any that her new schedule allowed and tonight was her first interview.

"Come on, Hippo, let's do our best." She took a deep breath and stepped onto the podium. She was used to performing, but this was no songstress act.

The podium was massive and brightly lit. She just heard the last words of the interviewer announcing her. She looked at the cameras and smiled at them, then remembered they had told her to not do that; she was to keep her eyes only on the interviewer.

The interviewer was an older man, whom Lucia didn't find particularly attractive, a bit like Taki. He sat on a bright red couch and held out his hand, she shook it and set aside of him. Hippo hopped in between them. Lucia hoped he wouldn't randomly change into human form, that might be awkward the magic that gave him clothing would falter here. They were rather far from the sea's magic, after all.

"So, your majesty ... or should I call you goddess?"

"Please call me just Lucia."

The interview started out fairly normal and Lucia felt relieved right up until he brought up why she had a pigtail hairstyle.

"What's wrong with my hairstyle?"

"Nothing, nothing. I mean no offense, Lucia. I was merely curious. You see, in our culture, twin pigtails are a style of little girls. They indicate an immature mind."

"Well, eh ... I just like it. It doesn't really mean anything below the surface."

"I thought so. Speaking of gender roles, are there any fashion differences between your men and women?"

"Oh, there are no mermen. Mermaids are born from their pearls. Kaito is from the Panthalassa Clan. They can live underwater, but don't grow tails. I haven't really met a lot of them, but his brother does like very different clothing than Kaito."

"How interesting. So you're not actually female."

"Excuse me?"

"Biologically speaking, you're only really female if you've actually got female reproductive organs. Something needs to produce ova. You know, egg cells, wombs, pregnancy? In mermaid form, you are therefore sexless."

Lucia involuntarily looked down at her bosom.

"Ah, those are just glorified sweat glands. They count as secondary sexual characteristics but are not reproductive organs."

"Hey, you don't talk like that to Lucia!" Hippo said. Lucia laid a hand on his head.

"It's alright, Hippo. Anyway, I actually wanted to talk about is the current hate crimes against magical creatures."

"Yes, that is a problem, isn't it? Let's discuss that. Did you know that half the of the world adheres to a religion that prohibits the worship of all gods save one and a rough twenty percent is irreligious?"

"I didn't know that, but what does that have to do with the hate crimes?"

"You shook up quite a bit of dust by stepping up as the goddess of the seas. There's not an awful lot of world views that your existence fits in."

"But I'm not asking for worship! I'm not a goddess like that!"

"It doesn't matter. Over the past few days, three cults have already been started for you, a few interpret you as a manifestation of their own deity and several religious denominations declared you a witch or worse."

Lucia had never thought about religion or worship. She'd met several creatures who had been considered gods across the world, but none of them really had the powers of gods and their stories had been greatly exaggerated. Many of them were undying, but not truly immortal.

What did make one a god anyway? Immortality? Magic? The Aqua Regina had not died, merely passed on her power and faded into the dreamlike layer of existence, much like the Ancients. They had not died either, only the Emperor Michel was truly gone. What did death mean anyway?

"Who created earth? What's right or wrong about the evolution theory? Is there an afterlife? What exactly are all the other creatures we've seen, spirits, demons, what? Those are pressing questions for many people right now. If you are indeed a goddess, shouldn't you have some answers?"

She didn't know any of that. A quick glance at the audience revealed a snickering, curiosity, doubt and a lot of skepticism that kept increasing along with her silence.

The interviewer laughed it off, or pretended to. From that point forth, he only asked her childish questions.

Lucia left the studio feeling humiliated.

**· · · · · · ·**

The old city of the Ancients had several large halls. At Michel's first visit only one had homed monsters, but now each and every one was filling up with monsters seeking asylum. A few recognized him, he asked them to keep quiet about who he was.

He was here for the Black Beauty Sisters. He couldn't exactly say he liked them, but they were the only ones here whom he had a rough idea what to expect from. Plus, there was a question he could only ask them.

The location he was directed towards surprised him. This had been a dance hall once, from what he understood of his clan's interior attitude. Now it was arranged at a rather human target practice hall. Marks were line up on one side of the hall, and shooting cabinets on the other.

The Black Beauty Sisters were the only ones here. When they saw him enter, he must have looked confused since Mimi said, "It's quicker and cleaner than the damage we cause by singing. Anyway, spit it out, we've got a schedule."

Michel looked around, detected nothing like security cameras — at least not magical ones — "How much does this organization really know about me?"

"Oh, you mean the world destruction thing? We didn't tell them. They just think you're yet another mystical species, one that Amagi happened to come across. They heard some stuff from the others about you potentially being a savior, but we had a chat with them already. They'll be quiet."

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it. If they found out what you really are, they might demand we capture you. We don't want to lose the job and we _definitely_ don't wanna be eaten again," Sheshe said. She finished reloading a gun and handed it to Mimi.

"I don't eat people anymore," Michel said through gritted teeth.

"Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better," Mimi giggled. "But it's in your nature to eat things. You're a predator, like us."

He glared at them, but Mimi just shrugged and fired the gun. While she aimed she started to hum softly, an increasing tone that suddenly reached a high shrieked right when she fired. Michel's ears barely had time to feel pain.

The target, a wooden doll, exploded. The Sisters grinned. "That's my girl," Sheshe said.

Michel knew of the destructive powers of these two, they could level a building with a song, but powering a bullet with a mere hum and get _that_? Interesting. It took less time and less power while achieving more. He'd have a word with Michal about this.

A machine detached from the wall and replaced the doll, this one a bit bigger. How long had they been at this already? They didn't look tired.

A sneaky thought in Michel's mind said that if he hadn't despised humans and their technology so much back then, then Fuku probably would have been handing out guns to him and his servants, telling them to just shoot the princesses and be done with it.

"Anything else?" Sheshe said, turning back to Michel.

"These people have been keeping check on Alala, from what I understand?"

"Yeah, and so have we. We did spend some time getting to know them, after all."

"How about Lady Bat?"

"He seems to have discovered his own nature before we met him. Let's just say it's pretty tough catching someone who has the power to make people forget they ever saw him and give them different memories in return. Only trace is mysteriously missing recordings."

"So it was this organization after all, with those vampires at the citadel?"

"Yep. They went in expecting B Movie vampires so they bared in, all threatening and making the wrong impression. We can only guess though, since the entire thing was forgotten by everyone and recordings were swiped. Only those at the headquarters remember it. We two are the ones who figured out Lady Bat was involved cause of the circumstances," Mimi said.

"The circumstances? Lady Bat isn't the only one who can steal memories. I can do it too and there's doubtlessly others."

"Yeah, but the local stories that brought attention to it in the first place described a batwinged vampire who nobody agreed on to be male or female. Memory theft powers aren't _that_ common to make Batty an unsafe guess."

Great. Lady Bat had found a good place, apparently, only to be driven out by accident. That made all three of his family who'd ended up miserable. He felt that he owed them an apology for not making them think through the whole descent to earth thing better.

"Speaking of your family, gonna tell the other two what they are?" Sheshe said.

Michel shook his head. "It would only confuse them. I have another thing to ask you though ... "

"And that is?"

"How much will I have to pay you to _stay_ in my favor even if something where to happen tips the scales against me?"

"Ah, I thought he'd never ask," Mimi said. She fired another shot. This doll burst into flames. "You better have a good offer though ... "

"I do. See, I suspect something is going to change on this planet and you'll want part of it ..."

**· · · · · · ·**

Michal stood before the door of Lucia's underwater palace. She had a lot of things she wanted to talk about, but talking to Lucia had always been rather fruitless when it involved things she had to use her head for. Right now though, it was worth the shot. She'd seen the interview, had a good guess why Lucia had retreated and an even better guess what would happen if she continued hiding now.

Lucia was in her throne hall, empty save for her and a set of papers drifting around in the currents. Michal had a hard time seeing her through the muddy water, even though a light at the ceiling lit the place. It even became harder to swim in here.

"Lucia, can you turn on the magic a bit?"

A sniffle. Michal couldn't help but wonder how Lucia managed to breathe below here. Perhaps it was just magic translating some other sound.

The water become less watery in composition and Michal swam forward till she saw Lucia.

"Where are all the others?"

"To their oceans, trying to keep things from turning to chaos. They've been getting lots of divers." Lucia sniffled again and looked up. "So?"

"So what?"

"The interview. Aren't you going to say something about it?"

"What could I say that you don't know already?" Michal said as she drifted to a nearby seat, not opposite of Lucia, and folded her legs. There was a statue that she had always liked opposite of her, so she decided to watch that for her duration here.

"Why did you call me here? I'm not good at comforting people."

"You know stuff." Lucia seemed to choke up, Michal noted from the corner of eye. She felt sorry for her, but didn't know what to do but wait for the question. "That man said I'm not really a girl."

"He is right insofar your mermaid form and reproductive abilities. Mermaids are born from pearls and given a guardian, rather than coming from a womb. I don't know about DNA yet. However, gender identity is not purely decided by having ovaries or even chromosomes. It is the consequence of various neurological functions and hormones."

Lucia was frowned a little.

"So am I ..."

"You think of yourself as female, right?"

"Yes."

"That's all you need to know. There's something related to this that I want to talk about though. Ever heard of Agamogenesis?"

"No. Is it some kind of book?"

"It's asexual reproduction. Parthenogenesis is the subgroup under which mermaids would fall."

"Huh?"

"Species that rely _entirely_ on Parthenogenesis are either asexual or homosexual. Yet so far, every mermaid I met is heterosexual. What does that tell you?"

"This is genetic stuff, right?"

"Yes, but also neurological and hormonal. With humans, every person has a specific bundle of genetic and behavioral traits that they're attracted to, which is why the Westermarck Effect exists, to prevent people from falling for their closest matches : their siblings. Yet with mermaids, there is no sexual reproduction at all and you are technically all family. You don't fall for each other, you fall for human men. I'm saying there's a universal biological plan that requires you to fall in love with humans and reproduce with them. That would also explain why mermaids look so incredibly human, when logically you should all have gills, clammy skin, tangled hair and possibly seapocks. Nope, you're been perfectly designed to appeal to human men with magic that does anything from keeping your hair good looking to giving you legs and the parts upon transformation."

"Michal, are you going on on one of those autistic geeky rants ...?"

"I'm saying that the ancient traditions have been going about it the wrong way. While I think you totally did it the wrong way, you _are_ right that humans and mermaids should coexist. And get busy in the sack. Nature says so. In fact, I dare say, it _needs_ to happen."

"Why?"

"Lucia, are the Ancients nice people?"

"They seem to be ... "

"Planet Earth killed them all to make room for humans. Planet Earth doesn't care for whether someone is nice or not, it just makes room for new species at its whim. I theorize that the change it made relates to the oxygen levels in the air. The reason my blood was combined with that of the Ancient Emperor was because by basing the host body on a creature that could process both atmospheres, be it magical or ordinary, air or water. Just cloning the old emperor's DNA would just see him die from the same problem again."

Beat.

"Air and oxygen isn't the same thing?"

Michal had to remind herself that mermaids had no school system of their own and Lucia had only attended human school for one year, and she was used to everything being done by magic for her and ...

"The Ancients probably died by global choking," she finally said. "It would be a good idea to spread the genetic magic that makes future humans able to breathe everywhere. It's just that you broke the Masquerade in a very bad way."

"And your point is ..."

"Oh, wasn't that obvious? I'm proposing a way to get the human world to feel more at ease about this. See, mermaids are gorgeous so if you accent that, it might help. Right now, you kinda look like you're a rookie come to help the poor humans without having a clue what the real problem is ... try the Mars Needs Men approach. Sure, you'll be playing up the dumb blonde thing for a while, but you'll look less like Gaia's Reject."

"I-I don't want to be a dumb blonde."

"You're not very educated and don't have a knack for anything you can't visualize or idealize. Do you know anything about trade treaties, the passing of laws and all the government forms?"

Lucia shook her head.

"Then ham it up. Right now people want to see you as the all knowing goddess here to bring salvation. Make them see a supernatural pop star instead. Advertise. Perform some catchy songs. Hope people will be too distracted to realize your kingdoms don't stand a chance against submarines that know what to look for. You're going to meet a lot of people asking questions like I or that show host do. Those questions won't stop, but you can avoid people questioning your legitimacy by making them expect less."

Lucia looked like she was sighing, but no bubbles came from her mouth. "I guess I'll keep my pigtails for a little bit longer. So, do you really think Earth's going to change again?"

"I do. Something is going to change on this planet and we'll have to take our part of it, whether we want it or not."

**· · · · · · ·**


	12. Infirmity

****· · · · · · ·** **

Seira drifted through the ruins of her kingdom, alone. Her citizens were nowhere.

As a dreamwalker, she knew dreams often crossed over that hidden layer of reality where she and all other mermaids come into being. What worried her was that she couldn't tell where she was right now. She couldn't remember passing a corridor, or even how she'd come here. Like how one could not remember a dream starting.

She wasn't sure where she was going, but she was going for some reason. Probably because it really was a dream.

She came to a fountain that she remembered well. A massive seashell stood at its center, opened wide and filled with heavy orange liquid that fell out as if the surrounding was mere air. She was born here and had spent the first six years of her life in this limbo.

Here, so detached from a physical body, one could develop without evolving emotions yet grow a mind that could speak and reason. In the real world, bodies depended on emotional needs to be satisfied, less they grew ill and died sooner. Here, there was no body to suffer from brain chemicals. In that way, a soul or spirit was both more pure and less real than a living body. It was why the Ancients had feared to lose their physical life, even if they could persist in the spirit realm without being forced to move on, like ordinary spirits were. Here, emotions were just assets.

"I should have killed myself when those emotions made me destroy my kingdom," Sara said. "It's very educative, being here, able to dissect what makes me who I am."

Seira turned around, finding the former orange princess drifting behind her. Sara looked the same as she always had and was smiling warmly. Her black scales reflected sharply and she stood out against the bright surrounding. Seira wasn't surprised at her presence, though she knew she had to be.

"Have you died?"

Sara shook her head. "No, I merely come here for introspection."

"Then what are you?"

"Sara, off course. Not a Sara who will remember this conversation though." The unspoken knowledge came to Seira, as knowledge always was in dreams. This was a creation that Seira had drawn from Sara's subconscious. If a conscious mind chose to with the subconscious of another.

Seira turned and swam over to the giant shell, curling up inside it. From there, she watched the always dark Sara. Behind her emerged a thousand other black mermaids. She knew all their names. Sila, Seirin, Saru, Sairas, Seele, Sarau, and so into into the quadruple digits until their language was no longer humanoid. All of them black haired and tailed and smiling kindly, yet emptily. Seira felt lonely amongst them, but wasn't afraid. She waited for the entire mass to finish congregating.

The earlier mermaids appeared and looked very little like humans at all. Arms and head, sure, but they had sharp teeth in wide mouths, silvery skin fading to black tails and popping eyes. Their number was added to the already vast expanse of Indian Ocean mermaids, by all logic Seira shouldn't be able to see them. Yet she did. This place wasn't in a need to be logical, after all, so it could act on her curiosity.

Why this place was answering and to what question she was not certain of yet. Perhaps she should subtract a self from her own subconscious.

No less had she thought it or she noticed a face very similar amongst the mass, the only one not smiling. Seira's hair was black and so was her tail.

There was a sharp flash and a click, and her dream slipped from consciousness. Seira felt herself settle back into her body with ill ease, struggling with the covers of her bed ...

_Flash_.

She stared right into a diver's mask.

There was a human drifting in her room with an underwater camera, snapping photos. Seira spent about five seconds staring, then she lashed up her tail.

"What do you think you're doing?" she yelled. The human lost their camera. Seira grabbed it and smashed against the nearest rock. "Get out!" Her tone carried her magic, causing a painful sound tremor in the water. The diver dizzied for a moment, but then quickly swam out the window. On the way, a snake head peeked in and the human startled.

"Out!" Seira yelled again. The human decided to mermaid was bigger problem than the merely staring naga and swam away.

Seira let herself sink back on her bed and closed her eyes, one hand rubbing her forehead. It had _not_ been a mere dream, it had taken quite a bit of her magic and she'd been hit a little by her own sound. That dream ... what was it anyway? There had been a lot of faces and ... everyone black haired and tailed.

Even herself.

She opened her eyes again and looked at the hair that drifted before her eyes. Irritably, she noticed there was no color. Apparently, the ocean's magic was being applied elsewhere yet again, leaving small luxuries like subaquatic sight out of reach. She willed her earring to glow and saw her hair was still orange.

The two naga appeared before her as well.

"Forgive us, princess. We were unable to keep track of all of them. There was a skirmish down the terraces and everyone was needed."

"It's alright, I needed to get up anyway," she lied. "Is that skirmish resolved?"

"Yes."

"Good. Please stand guard at the entrances." They nodded and took off. Seira grabbed for her phone, which she had laid aside of her bed. She dialed Lucia's number.

"Lucia, hello. Yeah, I'm fine. Well, not entirely. Something really needs to be done against these divers. I just don't have enough people to deal with all those humans. "

"I'm sorry," Lucia said.

"For what?"

"Everything. All of this."

Seira bit her lip. There was a harsh rant spelled out in her mind for Lucia, one she irrationally wanted to deliver just to vent it out. But she knew it wouldn't achieve anything but hurt Lucia further. Others had already told her plenty, she knew.

The next thing Lucia said almost made Seira reconsider the rant.

"Anyway, we'll be getting everyone more guards. Me and Kaito have agreed to unseal the Panthalassa Clan," Lucia said with criminal cheer.

Seira sat agape for a second, but found her composure much quicker. She noted tiredly she was getting used to hearing these kinds of ideas from Lucia. It had started long ago, with, ' _let's have a black skinned mermaid_ '. A flickering memory of the dream played in Seira's mind. If no fabrication, the mermaids once hadn't been any sort of human skin color ...

She shook her head to force herself fully awake and said, "Lucia, are you absolutely sure? Because ... well ..." _This might just become your third screw up._

"Yes, we're sure. The Panthalassa Clan always wanted to drop the Masquerade, the only reason Kaito didn't want to unseal them was because he disagreed with that. However, I always wanted it and you know what? I think it's necessary that we unite the land and sea. Just in case Earth decides to not like us anymore."

"Huh?"

"By the way, Seira? We're doing a different thing than the great supernatural savior stuff in our advertisement. We're instead going to do the idol thing. Like in, what we always do when in front of people except they now know we're really mermaids."

"What?"

"Could you perform with me in Japan next week?"

"Perform?"

"Yes, we're harvesting in on the kawaii culture! Since the Panthalassa capital is so close by, we can combine that. We're going on a world tour of peace and love with them in tow! First we make people feel safe with magic, that'll be our best shot at stopping the discrimination. The Panthalassa can give us the man- and womanpower to fix what our songs can't."

That sound ... somewhat logical, Seira had to admit.

**· · · · · · ·**

The capital of the Panthalassa Clan lay in the Mariana Trench, south of Japan. The city was mostly hidden in the walls, what few signs of civilization they held were concealed from human investigation by magic.

If not for Uchochikha at her side, Seira probably would have fallen off the stairs at some point. She leaned on him lightly and looked around often. The clouds and lands below passed by with dazzling speed every step she took, surreal and impossible, but nevertheless ordinary to her. No subtractions from other's subconscious or vague psychological messages. Just the world.

"Is something the matter? You seem nervous."

Seira shook her head. "I didn't sleep well, that's all."

"Did you really sleep at all?"

"I ..." She paused and thought that over. "I have no idea."

"You should have."

"I know. I'll work on it."

The stairways started to descend into the deep darkness and the surrounding became watery. She no longer needed legs and shifted into her mermaid form, which made it a little easier to move. Like this, she and one naga emerged into the ordinary world again. The other stayed at home, intending to deter any unwelcome guests that might otherwise settle in the area.

Michel was the first thing she noticed, sitting on a jutted rock on the wall. When he noticed her, he approached her quickly.

"Seira, did you get enough sleep?"

"That seems to be a popular question lately. Uchochikha can tell you all about it. Or you could tell me why you're here." Not that she wasn't glad for it.

"Michal suspects some of the weaker Panthalassans without eye magic are going to have trouble adapting to the bright light up there. I'm here to see whether I can do something about that."

Seira nodded.

"Are you sure you can help out today, Seira?" Michel said.

She wanted to say something positive and hopeful, but just didn't feel like it. "Can we just go?"

Michel sighed exasperatedly, but didn't argue. He turned around and started swimming deeper using only his wings. Uchochikha nudged Seira below the arm and she embraced him. He swam her deeper, following the steady stroke of feathers.

Down to the Panthalassa, who supposedly held no more world domination plans.

Now Seira thought about it, she didn't know a lot about the Panthalassa Clan, save that Kaito was a full blood and Michal and Licht's mother was one. She asked Michel about it.

In his mind, they were weak and pitiable but with great potential and very spiteful. They had rejected helping him since they didn't want the Ancients to rule again. He wasn't sure _what_ they wanted, or whether they even had a consensus.

According to Kaito, they had had planned to integrate themselves into society, grow strong and then reveal themselves to the world, claiming the oceans while they had the political leverage that the mermaid princesses lacked.

Seira had plenty of experience with technically well meaning but drastic factions of people to see some sense in that. However, there was a twinge of something in Michel's voice that was a little off. She considered asking, but it struck her on her own the moment she thought of numbers.

Her own black Seira duplicate had stood amongst the masses and had been the only one not to smile. Where the physical divergences of all those mermaids had not stood in their way of similarity, that one thing had ... this little image got a life of its own and pasted itself onto the situation of the Panthalassa Clan.

Factions. There were two factions in her own kingdoms, and within those various smaller groups all with slightly different opinions. There was no way all the thousands of Panthalassans all held the exact same opinion. The mother of Licht and Michal certainly hadn't seemed interested in world domination plans or freeing anyone. If she had been, she would have tattled about the Ancients to doctor Amagi well before she died.

"Hey, Michel, why didn't Kaito at least at least release some of the factions that weren't into world domination?"

"I don't know. Ask him."

That prospect somehow unnerved Seira. Her primary familiarity with Kaito was what she knew Lucia and Michal had felt towards him, but it wasn't an affinity she shared. Kaito wasn't remotely a bad person, but his attitude towards the female gender was that he liked them docile and saw them as something that needed protection.

"Maybe later. About this seal, you obviously got through it if you talked to the Panthalassans. How does it work?"

Michel chuckled and slowed down till he swam side by side with the mermaid and Naga. "Michal bombared me with similar questions not too long ago. Why was the seal arranged in such a way that weak ones could get out, that strong twins would be separated? Kaito had been cast out, not killed. The old Aqua Regina who had created this seal had apparently not seen any harm in individual Panthalassans running around regardless of their power."

"Why didn't you argue in their favor?"

Michel paused for a moment. This wasn't something Michal had asked, and he realized she probably had picked up the answer when he himself had not.

"I think it's because of what Fuku ended up doing. I'm pretty suspicious of well intentioned plans of stirring up the world. Like I once did."

"They were paying for crimes their ancestors committed. Any act of rebellion would have been relatively justified. Yet none of them supported Gackto when he wanted to destroy the world. That's why he had to use transformed fish," Uchochikha said. "It's pretty bloody simple really. Your sea king likes the status quo where he's got ultimate security and the former Aqua Regina ... well, perhaps she had an evil streak."

Seira froze and Michel stopped. Uchochikha halted as well, smirking dimly for as much as the stiff mouth allowed.

"Why ... why haven't I realized this in all those years?" Seira muttered. "I just never thought about it ... or did I?"

Michel was looking at her, frowning slightly. He needed a moment to put his thoughts in order. "Seira, what are you implying?"

"I don't know," she said with a small voice. She slipped off the naga so she could see the lower face, which was smiling.

"What are _you_ implying?"

"I'm not quite sure either, but I and my brother have noticed a few things ever since we started living down here."

Michel's started to look quite grim. "I'm in no position to form any judgment, but I think you might want a word with Michal later. Seira, I think I'm with you on what you said, but perhaps it's better if we don't talk about it for now. Let's focus on freeing the Panthalassa Clan."

She nodded.

Michel stayed aside of her for the entirety of the descent. The lower they drifted, the more pronounced the magic became. The entire trench brimmed with glamor magic and environmental spells that provided an invisible, highly control biosphere. It wasn't a subspace world, it was right there in the physical reality under a complex illusion that had kept deep sea divers fooled for decades.

In the darkest parts of the sea, mermaids used a combination of magic and echolocation to see. They saw a world in odd, flat colors pasted over a three dimensional map in their brain. Now they approached light, this sight peeled back in favor of more natural sight. Around a dim light a few figures hovered, including a straight cut blond head and matching tail.

Seira's mood brightened a little, she had thought she'd be the only of the princesses here. The others didn't have the luxury of teleportation and intelligent nagas to keep order in their kingdom, but it didn't surprise her much that this one princess had arranged to come anyway.

"Coco!" she called out as she let go of the naga.

"Hey, Seira!" With envy at her energy, Seira watched Coco practically shoot over to greet her. Coco was out of the light by now and Seira could only see her outline. She frowned for a second, she was fairly sure Coco's hair seemed a bit too reflective for this dusk. Michel's long hair was only translucent.

"Seira, no offense, but you look terrible. Let me know if I can help you in your kingdom, I have plenty of time."

"It's .." Wait, what? Plenty of time? "I'll manage, really. How have you been doing?"

"Well, better than you in any case!" Coco petted Uchochikha, who was mildly annoyed at this treatment. Then she turned to the third arrival.

"Michel, I'm glad to finally meet you under less strained circumstances," Coco said, holding out a hand. Tentatively, she added, "Fuku isn't with you?"

Michel shook her hand, and his head.

"I'm glad for that, to be honest. Come along you two, I'll show you where the Panthalassa will be passing up. Lucia is almost done breaking the entire seal, the exodus is about to start."

The unsealing wasn't anything spectacular. Lucia went past various points of the Mariana trench with the key. The Clan was divided in interconnected sections across the entire trench, divided across equal groups of power. This power division was the reason Kaito had been cast out entirely, since as a prince the risk was too great he and his brother would breaker the thinner internal barriers to find each other.

It was also the reason why it was only the weak Panthalassa who could escape. The barriers were calculated for a power difference and when adjusting between the regions, excesses were sometimes discarded. This happened every few generations or so and caught anyone likely to suffer from blood poisoning. This being a genetic inclination, usually it concerns babies and toddlers being cast out. Unlike the royal Kaito, they didn't have the magic to bend the sea world to attend to their survival, so they were almost always eaten by carnivores or starved to death.

To a lesser extend, this system also meant a lot of the Panthalassans were raising children not their own. The barrier regularly cast around children to keep an even amount of magic throughout the trench. Adults sometimes had the same fate, if there was a sudden death and thus a shift in the power balance.

Seira's job was to sing up a current that would help the people drift to higher levels of the sea at an even rate. The vast majority of them was slow, some almost as slow as humans underwater. The signs of the blood poisoning were at effect in more than a few, easily recognizable by the sickly yellow tint to their skin.

She passed every sector like this and got a clear look of the clan's state. Michel was right, they were in a pitiable state. Only now she saw them did she realize why Kaito and Gackto were considered those of great power, despite neither of them having a potency close to what an angry Sara had achieved all on her own. All their power was pumped into their body, making them superhumans rather than weak but enduring.

The ordinary Panthalassans had paled to the point of white, shallow skin and almost never blinked. Their pupils were enlarged to the point of nearly being black and they had slightly longer limbs, allowing them to swim easier. Much like humans could use an evolutionary bottleneck to get a poodle out of a wolf, the Aqua Regina's seal had forced this species into an adaption they shouldn't have needed. Michel had his work cut out in making them capable of handling the world above; they didn't have some odd years to let them adapt slowly.

More than a few times, Seira sent Uchochikha out to help an individual who was having a rough time. These were some of the few occasions the clan members really acknowledged her. Sometimes they gave her only a tired look, sometimes they were enthusiastic and others deeply suspicious. The children were the only ones really excited, Seira and Uchochikha let them play with their tails and look at their fins if their parents allowed them to approach.

The purple and pink princesses that composed most of the aid — having served under Lucia for so long had made it easier to mobilize them — but there were a few colors of other kingdoms. None of them had the needed skill or power to move their currents, but they did have enough magic in their song to strengthen the weak. They also gave other aid, such as handing out magically enriched food and off course offering them new sets of clothing. The drab, colorless items there wore were perhaps practical down here, but not really for the world above.

Seira saw little of this, since each time she had to return to the next segment. Sometimes she heard Lucia's voice far away, giving an extra boost to the magic, but not much. She met Kaito once, who was in a hurry and only said she was doing a great job and gave an apology for Lucia doing little for the water flow; she had caused a little bit of an accident when she had tried. This Seira understood, but not where Coco was. She had hoped the yellow princess might give her a hand.

Then again, she had an inkling of an idea that Coco had gone straight to Sara. If anything filled her with anxiety, then it was that they might indeed decide to unseal Gackto, Sara and their servants. The last time Seira had really met Sara, she had known neither love nor hate, but across the years of tending to Sara's fallen kingdom she had formed a shaky opinion. The miserable caravan passing by her was a good distraction, and she had to admit a less pure side to herself : her eagerness to approach an old one or a young child to personally help them swim was a little spurred by a desire not to dwell on the meeting.

Still, she began to see some sense in her dream, which was too coincidental to not have a prophetic side.

It took nearly a day before the entire trench was empty. Seira's currents could whisk on hundreds at a time, but the number of the Panthalassans was probably well beyond that, given the entire Trench was full. They wouldn't be done with a single day's work. Seira almost thought she wouldn't be seeing Sara today, but by what probably was sundown, Lucia appeared before her.

The goddess laid a hand on Seira's shoulder. Lucia, who looked as tired as she felt, gave her some of her power.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it, you really help out today. I would have come earlier, but I needed some time to transform the Dark Lovers back into people. I accidentally had turned Izul into a dewgong ... I should have let Gackto handle it from the start," she said with a little embarrassed smile. "Anyway, you can rest for the day. I'll perform solo this evening, and tomorrow we'll continue with the rest of the people."

"How many are there anyway?"

"We're still counting. There's definitely going to be over two hundred thousand. Anyway, we talked with Gackto and Sara and we've unsealed them. In light of how they have helped us in the past, I think it's safe. Sara's looking forward to meeting you, she'll be here any minute."

Seira had no clue what to do with that news, so she just blurted out the first thing that came to her exhausted mind, "Please tell her to not ask about how I feel."

"Oh, do you need some more energy?"

"No ... actually, yes. But I don't want you to give it to me, you need it yourself. I'll get some sleep, but you have an audience to charm." She left out the part that without magic, Lucia's voice was horrendous. Though, by now Lucia knew that and nodded in understand.

"Then sleep well," she said brightly. Dear forces of nature, how did Lucia always manage to stay so happy?

As Lucia's white tail disappeared along with the last Panthalassans for today, Seira let herself float down on the nearest rock.

Darnit, now she could not escape her thoughts.

On one side, she would like to have a long conversation with her, ask her for advise, ask her how the culture had been before the destruction, anything she could give their people.

On the other aside, she knew what kind of a person Sara had been. Unlike with Michel, she had little idea what the thoughts behind her actions had been. She could only go on the stories of others, and that was that Sara had made her choices as a teenager and follow them up for about eight years.

It was rather awful to draw parallels between one person and another. Not everyone was equally strong. Sara had tried to destroy the world over unverified rejection by a lover. Romance playing as little a role in Seira's life as it did, she had a hard time sympathizing with that.

With a sigh, she rubbed her temples. If Sara was going to swim around her ocean, she needed to know what to expect but she did not have enough to go on. That was going to become a theme, wasn't it?

It took another half hour before the small group finally passed by. Sara and Coco were ahead, chattering busily while behind them, a satisfied Gackto swam with three of his Dark Lovers in tow. A little distance behind them was Hippo in his full hippocampus form, presumably as a semblance of security guard. Yuri was on his back, catching up with her 'family'.

Seira took to the water and slowly swam in their direction. Coco saw her first and pointed, at which Sara looked over. She was entirely orange, as she had always been. Almost always.

The rest of the group suddenly swam slower while Sara increased her speed. Seira realized with apprehension they were giving space for the meeting between long lost mother and daughter, which was far from how Seira felt about this situation.

But for Sara, it was just perfect.

"Seira." It sounded motherly and soft, much like the embrace Seira found herself in a moment later. "I'm glad to see how strong you've become, both in magic and in mind."

Seira had to smile and couldn't help but hug back, though it felt strange and instinctive rather than a family reunion. When Sara released her, she still didn't know what to say.

Sara understood, apparently, as she withdrew but held her hands on Seira's shoulders. "Lucia let me know I am not to ask how you're doing, so I'll just say that I'm here for you. Maybe one day I won't need to ask. Until then, would you let me teach you? I feel the magic you used here, your song is strong but not at it's full potential."

Well, _that_ was something she could talk about easily, Seira realized happily. She cast memories of her own hair and tailed turned black away and said, "I'd love it."

**· · · · · · ·**


	13. Repudiation

**· · · · · · ·**

Michel had been explicitly promised that this whole affair would not involved him surfacing and getting close to any filthy human cities. It was a well meant promise made by sincere mermaids who had no mind for potential hijinks in the plan.

So off course, the next day he was running around various hotels in Tomigusuku.

The Japanese government had bought up a number of hotels to house the Panthalassa Clan. Strictly speaking it wasn't necessary, but it was a step above letting the Clan sleep in the open ocean that offered little privacy. For Michel though, it made work more difficult.

While the public was not allowed, there was plenty of press to cover the event. He had put on the clothing Seira had given him, and so with his wings concealed, he went around pretending he was just another mermaid. Rina governed the green mermaids and they favored more Western clothing, true to their shores, but that wasn't widespread news yet.

Like this he acted doctor, revealing his wings only when out of sight of humans. Before the clan members he had to unfold them, as he needed them to work his magic.

Below the surface, he had cast a genetic spell on them en mass to ensure their eyes and ears would work as they should, and something to help them develop a tan. It wouldn't do if the Clan would surface just for all of them to get skin cancer some time down the road.

Turned out, the magic that allowed mermaids and Panthalassans to move below surface without choking or suffering pressure problems was nigh inexistent for the weakest. Throughout the evening, they fell down by bushes at a time due to having used up their magical pressure regulator. Burst eardrums, collapsed lungs and strokes were all over the place. It took all Kaito's persuasive power that they should not be brought to the hospitals, his wife had healing powers. Yes, those existed.

Michel dearly wished the hospitals were an option. It wasn't. Too much risks. The yet nameless organization for protection of the magical could only be in so much places at the same time.

Granted, Michel could only be in so much places either. He didn't mind working overtime, but he was far from sure of his craft. Being on speed didn't help that. Lucia and her healing powers had already done a few sweeps, but if the source of the problem stayed, it just came back.

What he did was run into one room after another, make sure no humans were around, and unfold his wings to quite literary tear apart the victim's body at its seams. Doctor Amagi had been the one to deal with the genetic magic, but Michel had had a decade to figure out the illogical nature of his own body. Even when incorporeal, the blueprint of said body had been around and up for investigating. He'd started the same day as he joined the other Ancients, picking out the fragments of Michal so that she could be reborn.

This power manifested in small streams of DNA, which was easily visible in the floating cities but less so here. He drew them out by passing his wings in spiritual form through the patient. If he, so to say, zoomed out he could see how the body was put into place as well. Like this, he could make it so that the body was accustomed to this pressure level by proxy influence on the cells and altering what the RNA carried out.

To the patients, it probably looked ridiculous. He'd come in, unfold his wings and direct invisible threads through the air with his fingers.

Though, given the show that Lucia was putting up right now, ridiculous was a theme for the day. He saw it whenever he was in a seaside room.

Lucia was on an aquatic platform on the ocean giving a incredibly over the top performance, complete with lots of 'kawaii' poses, flashy lights and verbal tics. Michel remembered how she could sing at her truest, it was a lot more sincere and a lot less flashy. Still, it seemed to work well enough. The crowd on the boats seemed to love it.

After that, she'd give a properly scripted interview explaining genetic facts she didn't really understand. All a thinly veiled assurance that no, this wasn't an invasion. Kaito meanwhile was working on the things behind the scenes, which involved getting everyone a legal identity. Conveniently for him, this also prevented him from meeting any of his Clan and the inevitable question : why didn't you help us before?

Michel did get that question. He had the luxury of answering that he had only been back for a few weeks, during which he had been occupied almost the entire time. He always gave a similar reason for Seira, whose kingdom was in scrambles, but it ended there. He could not explain the millenniums of neglect, and the more sickly people he tried to help, the less he wanted to provide such an excuse.

It was closing in to midnight when Michel was reasonably done for the day and decided to find Seira. At this point, he was more than ready to continue his conversation with Seira.

He intercepted a running Hippo and Yuri, who directed him to a particular room before rushing off with their papers, saying something about an interview. Actually getting to that room took another while, since it was in yet another building, and the constant buzz of this unnatural environment combined with the exhaustive work was slowly getting to him. The replenishing halo Michal had given him was to the point of dimming.

He found Seira leaning on Uchochikha, about the enter the hotel. Michel walked up to her other side and offered a arm. She said nothing, but smiled at him and took it. This left Uchochikha free to open the doors, and inevitably scare away some reporters with his uncanny second face, which left a free path before them.

The suite was wide and looked out across the sea. Before the group had taken their entrance, the hotel staff was revamped it with an aquatic motif, presumably as flattery. Too bad the current residents of the suite weren't all too susceptible to it.

"What do you mean, I can't destroy this stupid shell table? This place looks even worse than a mermaid castle!" A red eyed Eriru shouted.

Maria sighed dramatically. "Because we've got to behave now, we're supposedly joining the mermaids. This means we can't destroy crimes against good taste. At least not directly." Without getting up from her couch, she tipped over the table with her foot. "Oh my, I hope no one trips over that."

Izul took up the challenge at once, slithering by with her tail sweeping needlessly. A second later, the table sailed its final moments through the sky, before colliding with a wall and ... not breaking. The three Dark Lovers looked disappointed.

"Ladies, _do_ behave. We should not disrespect our gracious hosts," Gackto said, sounding everything but meaning it. He had claimed an entire couch and was slouching on it to his full power. The wine glass he was holding seemed to be pure ornamental, since on his back there'd be no way he could properly drink it. Michel was easily reminded why he had never bothered offering this man an allegiance.

Gackto noticed the three arrivals at that point and smirked (more) as he said, "Ah, fair Seira, I see it's true. You _are_ continuing the orange tradition of star crossed romances."

Michel glared at him. Great, another person meddling with — then he noticed Seira blushing beside him and looking away. The Dark Lovers all looked to them now and Maria rolled her eyes.

Before things got more awkward, Sara and Coco emerged from a sideroom, still talking till they noticed they new arrivals. If Gackto and his harem couldn't make Michel feel awkward about the fact he still had his arm hooked with Seira's, then being faced with a Sara giving him a knowing, somewhat inquisitive smile did it.

The last time he had met Sara, he had more or less killed her child. Right, time to find Seira some place to _rest_. The suite was supposed to have a separate bedroom, probably through the door that Coco and Sara were now blocking. Both of them seemed a little tipsy and weren't moving. Clearly, they were not using their wine glasses as prop.

"Is that the bedroom?"

Sara grinned and nodded. "We had to raid its minibar because Gackto's other girlfriends already depleted the one of the main room."

"Dear Sara, please don't misrepresent me, you are my only—"

"Sure, darling. Anyway, you two want some liquor too? It's not as good for getting drunk as cola, but they've got some great stuff there."

Seira laughed nervously. "I'd rather sleep, to be honest."

Michel brought Seira into the room and considered leaving as quickly as possible, but Uchochikha closed the door behind them. On the other side, he could immediately hear snickering. He

Seira collapsed on the bed without even bothering to change or put the covers over herself. Uchochikha curled up on the bed, which alarmed Michel a bit till he remembered that not all naga actually were into humanoids.

"Say, in their human forms, do they still have the magic that keeps them warm? Even at sleep?" Uchochikha asked.

Michel didn't know, but it was fair to assume it did. Seira turned over and seemed to think, then said, "I never tried."

Uchochikha took that as enough reason to dive under the blanket, curled around below it and Seira till she was somewhat wrapped into the blanket, naga around her. She chuckled, grabbed the pillow and pulled up her legs. Now only half her head peeked out of the new arrangement.

"Michel, could you get rid of that open bottle, please? It stinks," Seira said. Michel nodded and cleaned up the remnants of Sara and Coco's close encounter with the bedroom's liquor cabinet. In all honesty, it surprised him that they'd resort to drinking. Granted, he didn't know Sara at all, but what little he'd seen of Coco just didn't give that impression. Then again, he himself didn't exactly give the impression of being male to a lot of people.

He had just closed the cabinet when Seira said, "Michel, what we talked about earlier, ..."

"One moment," he said. He levitated himself to the door, entirely quiet, then rammed his arm against it. On the other side, someone yelped and a glass fell.

"Get lost!" Michel shouted. Then he turned back to Seira. "Are you sure you want to talk about that now? You should sleep ..."

"I will sleep, but this is important. Tomorrow, I'll accompany Lucia on this political tour, so we might not have a chance to talk again soon. I probably won't get a chance to see Michal at all, so you'll have to tell me whatever you wanted me to talk about with her."

Michel folded his wings and sat down on the floor, next to the bed so he could look both the mermaid and the naga in the eyes. "Michal thinks that there is some sort of grand plan that involves uniting the magical world with the human world. Now that I've spent a day here, I'm starting to agree with her about there being a sapient force behind this plan."

"Why is that?"

"The day I was sent down here I had touched a satellite, which momentarily linked me to fragments of its past. It knocked me out clean due to the overload of information. When I woke, I was told that I should know better than to touch manmade objects in the astral realm. Seira, I just spent the entire day using the dreamlayer to tamper with people's DNA and haven't gotten any such flashes, despite being surrounded by history."

She stared at him.

"But if this is all some sort of manipulation, then who is behind it?"

"I don't know, but I think there probably is a relationship between my arrival and the fact that Lucia somehow was the only one who both thought about unsealing the Panthalassans and dropping the masquerade."

Seira drew her head a little further under the blankets and closed her eyes. Michel thought she might've fallen asleep, but then she spoke.

"You know, I always wondered whether we were immune to our own powers. You know, today Sara told me what Coco's song did to her to redeem her ... mermaids aren't immune to the effect. Funny, isn't it?"

Michel hadn't quite been sure what he had been aiming at, but now he took in this thought, it felt like he had had it the entire time. Michal had probably had this suspicion. The power of mermaid song could invoke one's inner goodness, one's positive emotions. Could those powers also be invoked to render away justified negativity, such as suspicion or the questioning of authority?

Uchochikha raised his head slightly so the face in his neck could look at Michel. Its expression was grave, but he said nothing. Instead, he briefly looked at Seira. Below the covers, Michel noticed the dim magic of the earring he had given her.

Then the humanoid face closed its eyes and Uchochikha laid down his head again. Michel stood up and walked closer, Seira had apparently fallen asleep. He stood there for a moment, unsure about everything.

When he left the room, he noticed Eriru sitting close to the door looking exaggeratedly innocent. He glared at her, but she was unphased and just spun away. The glare was however enough to keep Maria quiet, who quickly decided to join Izul in snarking at Lucia's distant show.

Sara and Coco were still talking, and Gackto still lay on his couch trying his best to not look irritated in lieu of attention from his orange princess.

Michel didn't really feel like spending the night in their company, so he considered going elsewhere. Something held him back through, an uncharacteristic prickle of curiosity. He wasn't the sort to be curious, heck, his lack of curiosity had kept him from ever walking down the stairs to the real Michel. But Michal was a curious person, and she somehow felt he had gained some vexing new information. Her guess that he could learn more was not entirely untrue.

He looked out the window to the distant Lucia, but he bent his wings forward a little and his fingers twitched. Mermaids were not immune to their own power, so with Lucia singing right now, he should be able to detect whether anything was happening to them.

After a few seconds of testing, he came up with nothing. Lucia's song was brimming with magic, but didn't really alter any biological functions he could detect, and certainly no moods. He wasn't close enough to Sara and Coco though, perhaps he'd find something if he had less distance.

He took a few steps closer and sat down on the couch opposite of the two, for as far as his wings allowed this comfortably.

Still nothing. Sara had a potent link to the Indian Sea and her heritage as a princess was clear, while Coco ...

Coco was nowhere. She had power still, but no link. He knew that state, it was what he himself had been in for a long time before his birth. Coco had a body to anchor her, but no realm.

That, and her DNA wasn't quite the same. Well, not different, but the active parts had recently changed.

"Coco, what's wrong?" he asked her.

She looked up like a startled deer, her wine glass slipping from her hands.

"What do you mean? Nothing's wrong," she said nervously.

"Then why is your DNA different?" He stretched his upper two wings a bit for emphasis.

"I ... ehm... " Coco clenched her hands together. She looked so lost that Michel wished he hadn't said anything.

Sara sobered up instantly, somehow. She sat down her glass on the nearby table and looked at Michel for a moment. "Are you certain?"

He nodded, at which Sara turned to Coco and said, "There isn't a lot that changes how a mermaid's DNA works. Coco, please tell us what happened."

Coco started to tear up. Along with the drops down her face, her blonde hair grew stripes of black.

Izul and Maria stopped mocking, Eriru stopped spinning.

Sara took Coco by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes, kind but intently.

"What happened?"

"They rejected me," Coco whispered through her sobs. "They said that now it's going to be serious, they don't want me to rule them. I should have been there for them, rather than staying behind back then ... I stayed for you, but ... it really didn't make a difference, did it? I could have gone to my people and come back later!"

Sara took her in her arms and said, "You were young, Coco. I was the only fool there."

Michel was thoroughly confused. Black mermaids were only supposed to happen when a mermaid turned evil, but Coco seemed anything but evil right now. Pitiable for more fitting. He felt oddly responsible for busting her secret.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder. Gackto had finally gotten up and was motioning him to follow. Michel did so.

With no other rooms available, they went into the bathroom, which was more like a miniature pool.

"What's wrong with her?" Michel asked.

"It actually appears you know better than me."

"I meant, what does she mean about abandoning her people?"

"Ah, that. In my wicked days I had captured Coco, who passed up a chance to escape for reasons we never figured out. At the time, I had already destroyed her kingdom and her people were scattered throughout the ocean."

Gackto had taken along a bottle of wine and was now pouring himself another glass. He offered one to Michel too, but he declined.

"If she, by proxy, abandoned them long ago, why would she only turn black now? Last time I saw her, she was not only still a princess, but one to be reckoned with."

"Coco is best friends with Sara. Imagine what that sounds like to her people. Their princess passed up a chance to join them and give them the help they needed in favor of the woman who ordered their destruction. A favor Sara never needed, since Coco was just put back to sleep again."

"Getting through to Sara would have stopped the invasion, wouldn't it?"

"And it did. That's probably why there weren't too much complaints so far. But now everything is different. Lucia screwed up despite being the chosen goddess. How can they be certain Coco isn't going to screw up _again_ when they need her?"

Michel was about to object, but Gackto held up his hand. "Mermaids don't turn back because they've become evil. If it had anything to do with evil, the same changes could render them powerless. No, they turn black when they are no longer part of their kingdom, either by rejecting it, or being rejected.

Frankly, I'm surprised the mermaid kingdoms took the attitude of their princesses so well. Those girls responded to the crisis by going on land and attending to school and boyfriends when they should have been organizing refugee camps, medical aid and protecting their people from carnivorous sealife. All they did was safe work from the distance and protecting themselves from my Dark Lovers." He chuckled. "Coco's people just realized that this attitude isn't very productive, I suppose, and they have the extra fear that Coco is Sara's best friend."

Michel didn't like what he was hearing. He knew exactly how it takes Seira to keep her kingdom in order, and while he didn't know how things were in the past, or for the other princesses, Gackto had no right to generalize this much.

"If that's all you have to say, then I think we're done talking." Michel turned to leave, but Gackto stepped aside of him and blocked the way.

"As a matter of fact, I have more to say. I and my beloved have discussed the future and we're rather curious about your part in it. Coco might not be the only one."

Michel frowned. "What are you getting at, aside of dishing the princesses?"

"Did you stand still and wonder whether you really did the right thing, Michel?"

"Yes."

" _I_ never believed I did the world a favor to begin with. Nobody had been messing with my mind and a child I was no more. I actually stood still one day and considered the billions of lives that would suffer through my actions. It was like they didn't exist for me." Gackto snapped his fingers. "It's the same for Sara. She told me all she regrets is that she made her friends miserable. We feel nothing for the world."

Michel clenched his fists. "So, what does that make you here?"

"A protector, not unlike you. I'm sure you don't need to be told how rotten this world is. The princesses are an exception, a treasure of innocence and kindness that is destroyed lest we protect them. That's the kind of player I and Sara are. Now I'm curious, which are you?"

"Not like you, but not like them either," Michel said after a moment's hesitation. "I once believed I was making a better world. That is still important to me, even though I no longer believe in my old tactics."

Gackto raised his glass, grinning. "That'll be enough. Here's to us and abandoning world domination for orange princesses. Let's just hope they'll stay orange."

**· · · · · · ·**


	14. Benevolence

**· · · · · · ·**

Her arms were too full. Michal kicked the door of the garage up, dove under it as careful as she could and rammed it back down with her foot. She allowed herself four seconds to catch her breath, then set leprechauns in the car and reached for her keys. Outside, the footsteps approached. Quickly, she seatbelted the trembling creature on the passenger seat. They didn't all fit, so she said, "Hold onto each other."

Then she ran to the back of the car, brushed a hand across the license plate to apply an illusion. Then back the driver's seat. Michal slammed the door shut, flipped on the player and flipped in the first CD she could get her hands on. Accompanied by inappropriate Beethoven music, she drove the now magic-fueled limo through the garage door. The unhinged door sailed with physics defying grace towards the mob, flattened them all without death — but not without blood, Michal didn't feel very nice right now — and off they were.

The town wooshed by. At the town's edge, she saw her two bodyguards still dealing with the remainder of the mob. She halted close by and threw open the door.

"Get in!"

The barely closed the doors behind them or the pursuing mob assaulted the car with pikes and bars. Michal wonders whether if she involved people into the movement of the car, they'd be affected by her magic like the door, but dismissed the idea. If they weren't, she didn't want to run anyone over. So she focused her magic on their weaponry of choice, making them springy while threateningly stepping on the gas a few times. The mob moved back quick enough.

Just as they left town, the street lights turned on. Michal looked aside to the leprechauns, who had become a lot more relaxed now. A quick glance backward told her the two men also had gotten away with nothing more than a few bruises. That, or they were good at hiding pain. She started to feel at ease herself.

At least until sirens started blazing behind them.

"The police? What the heck are they thinking? We're the victims! I'm not even above the speed limit!"

"The villagers may have told another story," one of the men said.

"Blasted! When's the nearest crossing?"

"What?"

"If we go onto to the other lane, they can't follow. They might give up if they know they won't have a chance soon to cross over and just go back to report our license plate. The one that currently reads a non existent number."

One of the guards googled the route.

"None for out least fifty miles, with plenty of chances for us to turn from the road altogether. But how do you plan to get to the other lane?"

"If the ability to move underwater with all the benefits and none of the drawbacks of H02 can be illogical in the sea, then that ability can just as well be illogical on land. Here we go."

She stepped on the gas, working up the Water Is Air magic in tandem. The car somehow leaped into the sky, crossed the railing and continued on at the other side as if nothing crash worthy had happened. Well, mostly. The car creaked dangerously, but Michal forced it to stay in one piece. All that happened till they arrived at the citadel was a wave of pretty sparkles in their trail. The moment she stepped out, all the logical consequences of the car's abuse took effect and it crumbled to piece.

Michal carefully gathered up the leprechauns and left the car to be dealt with by her bodyguards. The organization probably had a magical way to cover up all that mess from their guests. Though seriously, they should get an official name.

The current residence of the small Amagi family was the unmasked Poienari Citadel. Drawn out of its subspace, the place was a lot more impressive despite its odd look; the local 'vampires' had gone a little too far in decorating it for their human guests. She wasn't complaining though, the pink frill on the windows were a small price compared to all the benefits of settling here.

All countries on the world had yet to fully work out personhood laws to include sapient creatures other than humans, most had no idea where to start, some bluntly refused to. Romania was having a little problem with the concept of vampires and whether anything "undead" could be qualified for citizenship at all. The faux-vampires here weren't actually dead, but functioned biologically so differently that once stripped of their magic, they might as well be.

When Romania had called to inform her brother that the citadel he'd been interested in was "invested with vampires, perhaps he would like another location?", they hadn't wasted any time on deciding the concert would most definitely be held here. In fact, there would not only be a concert, there would be a festival to promote understanding between the two worlds. Along with arranging that, the Amagis had as good as settled here, at least for the time being.

The vampires, sleepy as they were, had yawned and agreed easily. It took them a while to understand what was going on, but once they did, they'd thrown a premature party. Getting them to accept the organization as friendly was a lot more difficult. According to them, the Men In Black were going to randomly wipe them all out.

The "men in black" in question had known something had been in the citadel, but since whatever had initially caused the rumors of disturbance was gone, they'd left them in peace. Unfortunately, now there were more than awake, the not-vampires _didn't_ leave them in peace. Fortunately, they were still tiny and weak, so any of the childish surprise attacks were easily brushed off by the bodyguards and other secret organization staff.

That was it, one thought too many about vaguely defined organizations. Things needed a name, dangit. Men In Shady Colors it was.

"Where are we going?" one of the leprechauns whispered, the first coherent thing she heard from them ever since scooping them out of that farmhouse.

"To a sanctuary. It's a bit crowded, but it's safe. How did you get in Romania anyway?"

"Couldn't live in Ireland anymore. We had relatives here. Say ... we have to find them ... find them ... find them ... find them ..."

"I'll look into it."

One of the vampires opened a tacky magenta door for her, and she started wandering the castle. Over their short time here, a number of local mythical creatures had taken refuge. She and her brother were one of the few people who had both the understanding and the finances to give them a safe location, so it was packed.

It hadn't taken long before someone got their hands on magic that allowed the presence of other magic to be detected, so magical creatures could no longer use public transport unnoticed. Calls for pick ups were frequent, which is what she'd been doing two days ago, before everything went haywire in that town.

When she noticed Michel arrive out of nowhere, she was pretty peeved that he hadn't shown up a little earlier. He could handle Garuda, he would have had an easy time in that town. He should have gotten off of the Panthalassa deal early, right? Then again, something had upset him, perhaps that was why he had been off the map enough to not notice her being ... well, just annoyed actually. Monster and mob fights weren't all that mentally jarring anymore to her.

She found him in one of the living rooms. Michel almost turned, then remembered Michal wasn't fond of being looked in the eye. It was redundant anyway, as neither needed a hint to know what the other felt.

"Hey. You here for any reason related to whatever startling realization you had in the last day?"

Ah, yes he was. Michel was a little better with this telepathy 101 thing, apparently. Off course, if he could implant emotions, something as simple as 'affirmative' should be easy.

He looked at her arm full of Leprechauns, curious.

"More guests. I was just heading towards the kitchens to see whether there's some room there."

Michel opened the doors for her. Along the way, they met her brother, who shook his head when he saw Michal's arms full of leprechaun.

"We're going to have huge debts over this," Licht said with a chuckle.

"What, you want us to just shut the doors?"

"That wasn't a serious accusation, sister. Don't forget to warn the staff, they're terribly small," he said with a chuckle. Then to Michel, not unfriendly, "Michal doesn't like the crowds, but she tell me you enjoy my music. You're welcome to come to the concert hall if you wear something decent."

Michel was impatient and not interested, and let it know with a gruff, "No thanks." He walked ahead to where he guessed the kitchens were, based on Michal's knowledge. She was a little envious he was so good at this link thing. Then she noticed her brother frowning. She was no master at body language, but that she knew.

"It's not you, he's irritated about something and wants to talk to me about it."

"Oh. Seira related?" Licht whispered.

Michal tested the idea for a moment on what emotions she got from Michel and said, "Definitely involves her." That came out more misleading than she had thought, since Licht started smirking in a weird way.

"Well, I'm off. You go talk to him."

"Good art," Michal said. It was her substitute for good luck, which didn't make sense to wish someone over something that wasn't dependent on chance.

Continuing to the kitchen, she wondered how much of Licht's changed attitude towards Michel was an act and what was genuine. Her guess was as good as any, that was to say, none. Oh well. Better stick to what she could unearth.

Michal had indeed found the kitchen, and Michal took a moment to install them in the storage room, which had a lockable door. Small as they were, some of the bigger guests might want to eat them, so a lock was important.

She drew some magic from the wall, pointed out which food they could take and warned them not to leave. They bowed repeatedly in overt gratitude and she left them to get settled.

"Now tell me why you are feeling so unpleasant," she said the moment she was out of the storage room. Michel was leaning against one of the kitchen cabinets and looked very brooding. He should pose for a depressed painter some time.

"Gackto and Sara have let me know that they're going to take drastic measures when it comes to protecting the princesses. They expect me to do so as well."

That wasn't it, she felt it. "Not much we can do about it. It's not like mermaids have any legal system more complex than _let's seal anyone and their offspring eternally just to be sure_. They're either out of the seal or in the seal."

"That was not a decision of any mermaids, but of the old Aqua Regina."

"Whom the mermaids supported unfailingly. Honestly, I'm surprised that the Panthalassans are so nice about it. Do they even know it was Kaito who convinced Lucia to keep them down there for so long?" She wasn't sure why, but they were now edging towards the real topic. Life would be easier if she could share spirit links with everyone.

"Do they _really_ support her unfailingly?"

"Under most reasonable laws, children cannot be held accountable for crimes. When it came to releasing Yuri a couple of years ago, there was this huge debate between Lucia and the other princesses about whether this was responsible. Can you imagine that? They'll forgive you and Michal for destroying the world, but not underage Yuri. Not even Hippo, despite loving Yuri so much, argued in favor of releasing her. Lucia only did it after she became the new Aqua Regina. They support the old one unfailingly, but not the new one."

Startled, Michel looked up. "You're knowing awfully well what direction I'm heading with the conversation."

"Ah, I am? The naga I recently spoke to, back in those ruins, had me really think about it. The princesses are _too passive_ despite their good will, save for Seira recently. Are mermaids really immune go the effects of mermaid magic? Sara certainly wasn't."

"I gave Seira one of my earrings," Michel said. "And today, we we saw just in what state the Panthalassa Clan was. Seira is now fully aware, and while it's a stretch, I think Sara and Gackto are also aware that when it comes to indirect problems, the other mermaids are going to be too ... too blindly benevolent to deal with it."

Michal noted with a detached curiosity that when Michel really felt about something, she was getting some of his memories associated with his emotions. These memories prominently features Fuku, her father as a flame and some sort of medicine. Probably had something to do with the brainwashing theme there were getting onto ...

Michel had once used actual emotionwashing magic to convince the former Michal that life was worthless to the point that she'd been willing to destroy the world over a boy. Michal of the now revolved her life around being nothing like that Michal and hating her deeply, but somewhere in a far away box in her mind, she realized that Michal might just have been as emotionally sabotaged as Michel himself. Thinking that she herself was this vulnerable was not a pleasant truth, but it was better to focus on that than surrender to Michel's little inner storm.

"Mermaid songs can invoke true feelings and bring out the best ones. How one feels about something has a lot to cause for how one judges, what justifications one makes and even how clear one thinks. If unconditional faith in the Aqua Regina is the given feeling, one never really gets around to questioning her actions. It's actually really obvious."

"For how long was it obvious to you?"

"Ever since my brother told me of the past and all the little details of it. My brother agrees with Kaito about not surfacing them, and for the most part, I agreed with them too. You see what dropping the masquerade leads to. What I found weird was that none of the mermaid kingdoms offered the obvious alternative of just taking small groups of Panthalassans as custody citizens."

"We need to free the mermaids," Michel said. "I can't let her brainwash her people, not even if she thinks she has good reasons to."

Well, that was it. Michel was slowly adapting to the idea of the Aqua Regina, whom he had once held a good opinion of, as a brainwasher. For Michal, that wasn't new. It was as clear as her brother conducting his magic through the orchestra into the audience.

Nothing she could change, nothing she could convince others of. Her own mind was already influenced by chemicals, stimuli overload and other things that chipped away at her free will. Explaining that to ordinary people was already nigh impossible, let alone suggesting the mermaids they weren't quite themselves. Not worth it, especially if said free will led to dropping the masquerade in Lucia's way.

"Is that worth changing? Did you know that by merely being here and so in stress, you're at risk of emotionwiping me? I'm trying my damnest to not fall into your explosive state right now. Face it, with the magic we're dealing with in our daily life, complete free will never is a possibility. So what if the Aqua Regine stifled the princesses to be a bit passive?"

"A _bit?_!" Michel's wings flared out and the halo at his belt glowed fiercer, in turn causing the lights in the room to flicker. "So passive that after ten thousands of years, they are still devoid of technology and barely have any culture of their own! So passive that they let an entire nation rot in misery for crimes they didn't commit!"

"You weren't complaining when they used that magic to bring out your hidden goodness." Actually, he had a good point, but she really needed to disarm his rage right now. Cold, logical questions were the best way.

"That was different, doing that was stopping me from doing things far worse than—"

"That's probably what the Aqua Regina thought too, if she's indeed the one behind this. For all we know it's an innate side effect of their own magic."

"It's not. Sara and Seira were both out of the influence for different reasons at some point, and you know how strong they are."

Huh, she had not thought of it like that yet. Storing info for later use ...

"Okay. So what do you want to do about, hmm? Let the millions of mermaids below the surface all leech on your power so they are a bit more proactive and less blind?"

That finally did the trick of getting him to calm down and _think_. Michal noticed her own clenched hands relax in tandem to him sitting down.

"I don't know. I can't even find Lady Bat, let alone any lead on what causes this. They're proactive enough in the face of immediate danger, how would we explain them the difference between that kind of proactivity and their ability to reason? Even princess Coco feels horrible about the actions that got her expelled from her kingdom, yet doesn't wonder why she reasoned as she did."

"Say what?"

"Princess Coco was rejected by her kingdom and turned into a black mermaid. You didn't hear yet?"

"I spent the past two days in a backwater town stopping lynching parties. No, I haven't."

Well, wonderful. There were so many things that could mean for future and past it was just ridiculous. She needed to get data, perhaps she could sneak some time out and visit the yellow kingdom. If anything, she could learn by investigating people's opinions. Where better to start than that?

Wait a second.

Now neither of them were speaking, she noticed the storage room was too silent. Especially for people who should logically be asking her to just hurry up and find their relatives already. They hadn't mentioned it aside of when she'd specifically asked for why they'd come all the way here.

Suddenly ill at ease, she opened the storage room again and looked around. Nothing. She lifted some sacks and opened a few closets.

No leprechauns.

"Where did they go?" Was there some sort of secret exit? Could be, the castle was space warped enough for that, but then again, maybe they weren't leprechauns. Shapeshifters were not out of the question.

Michal pulled out her phone and dialed her bodyguards to tell them to look at for any mischievous leprechaun shaped things. However, none of them answered.

"Michel, do you know any reason my phone would be jammed?"

No need to answer. They had the same sense of danger.

**· · · · · · ·**


	15. Regret

**· · · · · · ·**

Licht would have nothing more gladly than to get to his orchestra. Unfortunately, this being anything but an ordinary concert where his name was nothing more than a note in the program, he could not skip the banquet that he himself was hosting.

The purpose of this event was, after all, for the human civilization to mingle with the magical. For that, he had revealed his heritage as a descendant of the Panthalassa Clan. So, his job was to be out there amongst the elite and be as sociable and sympathetic as possible.

The faux vampire citadel had appeared a good choice for event, with its sleep, docile inhabitants and massive pocket dimension full of fairytale halls. In theory.

In practice, the pocket dimension was brimming with local fayfolk searching sanctuary and the atmosphere was anything but calm and fairytalish right now. The castle was much larger on the inside than the outside, but with so much souls it still was crowded. The faux-vampires, sensitive to scent and fearful of humans as they were, caused a claustrophobic atmosphere in ways no unmagical creature was consciously aware of.

He did his best to focus on anything but the droning of the creatures in the walls and thought about trivial things like how much money there would be and how best to use it; perhaps start a league of protection of the magic, or just hire some more people to keep everyone safe. No, wait, he could hire Panthalassans and teach them how to use guns. Michal had told him a whole ago some second hand information about sound manipulation and magic, that could prove very useful.

The first thing he had asked the organization was whether they knew anything about the abduction attempts that had been made on Michal. He had been shown a number of crime syndicates that dabbled in the magical world, Michal was on their lists as an unidentified magical creature, category age anomalies. Those were interesting for potential cures for death.

It irked him that they had never told him about this, given how much they knew about him and Michal, but he could understand they had no real reason to breach their protocol of not getting civilians involved.

With that all on his mind, he had a hard time unearthing topics for small talk. Whatever do you talk about to a curious socialite who wants to know about magic when most of the magic in your life is not funny? Still, he managed a most professional smile and decided to go for the mysterious artist route.

This worked for about half an hour, then he saw something amiss. That baby sized green thing he'd just seen flashing across the room was a leprechaun without doubt.

Making eye contact with the nearest bodyguard, he nodded at where the creature had disappeared and gave the signal for 'stray guests'. The man nodded and was on his way the same instant. Licht hoped he wouldn't have to pluck the leprechaun out from under any table. The implications would be unfortunate.

After the banquet, there was socializing, and he made his way through the hall from one clutter to another until he eventually reached the Merelsons, whom he was distantly acquainted. Mrs. Merelson was just in the middle of detailing a charity event she wanted to host in relationship to the 'new population' when the flowerpiece in the middle of the table moved. Out popped a leprechaun.

"As if called from heaven!" Mrs Merelson said. "Look at that adorable little man. We can't possibly let these people little people be driven to extinction."

Mr Merelson rolled his eyes when his wife did not look and muttered "women", while Licht feared someday he himself would fall into the mold of stereotypical rich guy.

The leprechaun bowed elegantly, hat in hand and grinning widely. "What a lovely evening for a concert it is, no?"

"Oh indeed," the woman said. "Mr. Amagi's work never disappoints. I'm sure you shall enjoy it as well."

"Oh, I have heard it. He once had a concert in my homeland. It's not really enchanting to me," said the leprechaun, suddenly deadpan.

"Oh, off course. Must be different hearing things with such tiny ears. Everything louder, I guess?" Mr Merelson said with mock politeness.

"Nah, we're less affected by the magic in the music."

"Magic in the music?" Licht saw a slight frown on the man's face.

Sudden hands reached past Licht and snatched the leprechaun away. Licht turned to see his sister.

"Excuse me," Michal said quietly. Her face was averted, expression vacant and her body tense. Licht knew it was because she was suffering sensory overload, but to ordinary humans she looked like she was an underdog who was guilty of existing. Or like she had something to hide. Crap. The leprechaun looking for a way to escape didn't help.

Licht scraped his throat and said, "May I introduce my sister, Michal Amagi."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Mr Merelson said, reaching out his hand.

"Hello," Michal said monotonely to the floor. "My arms are full. Have a nice dinner." She abruptly walked away.

"She is very shy and has been overworked attending to our magical guests, please apologize her rudeness."

"Oh, no offense taken," said Mr Merelson.

"So, that was one of the tiny vampires?" Mrs Merelson wondered aloud.

"Actually, no. Those were guests from Ireland. Perhaps later this evening I can entice our hosts to show themselves," Licht said.

"Perhaps you can," Mr Merelson grumbled.

Licht was getting a growing feeling it was best if no more magical creatures would appear tonight.

**· · · · · · ·**

Time for the concert had finally come. Licht felt relief as he bowed to the audience, but that quickly vaporized when he straightened. Another leprechaun was in the audience, talking to people. He turned to his orchestra and hoped he was being worried for nothing.

These were musicians he had worked with for years and he knew them well. Normally they followed his guidance perfectly, but this evening they seemed ill at ease. Often he saw someone glance at the audience.

Though blind to what went on behind his back, he could hear the rumors. First the whispers of magic, then they started talking about how they felt.

He did his best to ignore it, but feared what would happen if his music lost its grip, or the inevitable end of the concert. Taking a small risk, he summoned his Panthalassan power to strengthen his soothing magic, causing the cross on his forehead to glow a little. His orchestra knew what it meant, but if any of the sideward audience saw it, they might misinterpret it.

The hall behind him grew a little less restless as the music summoned kinder feelings, but it was not to last. Another cheeky voice in a far corner, another leprechaun that disappeared just as quickly.

He increased his power a little more, but this had an unfortunately side effect. The fayfolk was started to droop from the walls, manifesting to revel in the music's power. Faces emerged from walls, became noticeable where they'd always been. Several of his musicians startled, one even dropped out. The sight was disconcerting enough, but Licht kept his attention on his work and the music going.

Somewhere in the audience, one of the small creatures dropped from the ceiling; Licht heard the audience move aside there.

"Are you alright?" someone asked.

Licht kept the orchestra going. He saw his bodyguards take position behind the curtains.

The faux-vampire gurgled something first, then said far clearer "His music tastes so good, he's calling up the best."

It took about ten seconds.

The mermaid songs invoked good emotions when expressed in kindness, but those truly rejecting the effect would feel pain instead. It was no different for his own music, Licht realized at that moment.

"Make it stop!"

Licht didn't need to make them stop, all his musicians did so on their own accord. They looked at the audience, fearful, look at him, betrayed.

"He's brainwashing us, isn't he?" a horrified woman cried, clutching her ears.

There were about three hundred people behind Licht, all rejecting the effect.

"I knew there was something fishy. I hate these events, I shouldn't be feeling this happy!"

And they knew where it came from.

The audience broke into two swarms, those desperate to get out and a smaller group that aimed their aggression towards the stage. Licht turned back to his orchestra and yelled, "Get backstage, quickly!"

Looking around, he saw his guards try to calm the masses that were pushing out the doors. A clutter overran one guard and the next thing he knew, that man was missing his gun. It was in the hands of Mrs Merelson, aimed at the stage. Her wide eyes looked around frantically, then he saw her lock eyes on him.

"We thought you were an artist! How can you?" she yelled, one hand on the gun and the other on a bloody ear.

She fired at wild. Two people to his right fell down, another shot razed his shoulder.

Then the pain in his chest. He fell down and lost awareness of all but that pain and the lights right above him. The noise continued, but he couldn't make it out anymore.

Instinctively his Panthalassan powers flared up, lighting the cross on his forehead as his magic fought to keep him alive.

His thoughts started catching up soon. He'd been hit in the chest, felt his lungs full up with blood. The magic that allowed him to breathe underwater worked.

The stage emptied and it was suddenly very quiet. He kept breathing, part air, part his own blood.

"He's not dying!" someone nearby said. "Why is he not dying?"

Someone climbed on stage. A person, not Merelson, appeared above him holding the gun. The stage lights prevented him from seeing any features. They aimed.

"No!"

The person looked away just in time to receive Michal's elbow in the face, then buckled forward by the next kick, then she threw them off stage.

Her face was above him next, she took his hand and placed it on his wound. "Help will be here soon, apply pressure," she said mechanically, as she'd learned. Above her head was the dim outline of her halo, just a thinning strand. Her right arm was stiffening as warning for an oncoming seizure. Licht desperately wanted to tell her to get to safety, but it was becoming harder to breathe.

"Michel, we need help," he heard her say far away. "Please."

She looked around frantically, yelled for them to stay back ... he couldn't hear much anymore, the blood was pounding in his ears.

Someone attacked, she threw them back. The cross on her forehead was glowing now, she was on waning strength. He wanted to send her his own, but there was no connection.

Another shot. Guns had six bullets, one more to go. Between the pain, he had only thoughts to hope she was unharmed.

There was no more breath for him. This wound wasn't caused by a magical arrow from by someone who didn't really want to kill him. Oh, the Panthalassan magic did prevent him from drowning directly. It was meant to treat water as air, and so it sought to get oxygen out of his blood. It would run out.

He lost hope.

A flash of white light and feathers before the stage lights, then the familiar sound of a whip followed by people colliding with walls and seats. A crack of electricity.

Michal was above him again, beyond that he saw the pale green and white of Michel.

"I'm so sorry," Michal said, much to his confusion.

Licht raised an arm, tried putting his hand on Michal's shoulder, but kept missing. His hand grabbed at her arm helplessly.

There were things he wanted to tell her, sentences he could not form throughout the pain.

_It doesn't hurt_ , a lie.

_It'll be alright_ , an empty hope.

_Be strong_ , a wish.

Every time he tried, he could not even make a sound.

It was the last he ever tried in his life.

**· · · · · · ·**

The fayfolk of the citadel had become so afraid they retreated and took their walls along. Michal only noticed because Michel did. They would have to flee. That could wait though. Her stiffening arm though had refused to wait, so someone else had to perform

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Some of the musicians and staff came back on stage, forming a small circle around them. Most of them were watching Michel in amazement, which Michal found intolerable given her brother's state.

"Quick, find something clean to bandage him with!"

They didn't move.

"What's wrong?"

"I-is it true he was mind controlling through music?"

"No," Michal said. Licht had been influencing their emotions, not their thoughts, so that wasn't technically a lie. "Please, there's no time for this!"

Hesitantly, one of the musicians approached and attempted to perform CPR. Michal looked on, clutching her arm, ignored questions about who that angel was.

Michel pointed at the nearest musicians and said, "You, go backstage and gather up staff." Then at another. "You, go help those injured people back there. And you, take a phone and get out of the castle, keep walking till your phone works. There's a barrier around this castle that jams communication." Then to a fourth. "You, get a group and gather up as much of the fayfolk. Calm them and keep this place from collapsing into itself."

His voice droned softly past her till she thought she still heard him talking.

Her eyes were only on the lifeless body of her brother. Licht's eyes were wide opened and unresponsive, she hadn't looked at them often but now she couldn't look anywhere else. At some point, he would look back.

"Come on, _work_ ," Michal whispered.

The musician leaned back and wiped blood off of his face.

"It's a lost cause, miss Amagi."

"No."

"I tried my best, miss. He was ... that wound is nothing that CPR can fix."

" _No_."

She lurched forward and set her hands on her brother's chest, tried to apply pressure but her frozen arm did not help.

Michel laid a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back. She sank to her knees.

"No, Licht, don't ... I haven't made up yet for everything."

"Michal, he's gone." He gently tried to coax her away from Licht, but she shook her head wildly and refused to move.

"No, he's not! Not like this."

"Michal, look over there,"Michel said softly, pointing down the now empty hall. In the exit door she could see a translucent outline, black haired in in white suit. She wiped her eyes dry and then there was no doubt.

"Dammit, Licht. You survived me, how can this kill you?" Michel whispered.

Licht smiled sadly and said something, but there was no sound. Something else reached her though. She felt the cross on her forehead glow warmer as Licht's power ebbed into her. If nothing else, then this was what made her truly he realize he would not stay.

Her arm relaxed, but the magic did nothing else for her.

Licht looked at Michel then, made a gesture to her. Michel nodded. Off course he would take care of her.

Licht's ghost started to fade and she stared until she realized there was only an empty wall and some very uncomfortable humans faces around her.

She wanted to blame someone.

If only Lucia hadn't made such a mess of the world, had dropped the masquerade in a better way. If only Kaito had let the Panthalassa free under better conditions. If only her father hadn't been so power hungry. If only there had been no angelic fossil with an obsessive servant at its side.

If only she, Michal of once and Michal of now had not been so needy. Always in need of something. Even now, Licht was worried for her.

"I wanted to be someone whom he could ask _from_ , not _for_. But I've never been a good sister, have I?"

**· · · · · · ·**


	16. Confabulation

**· · · · · · ·**

Seira wanted sleep, couldn't have it. Seira also wanted peace, which was only a little more likely.

While the Panthalassa Clan was settled for the time being, relationships with the various governments across the world were just barely starting. The strongest Panthalassans would accompany the mermaids on their journey, since it just wasn't feasibly to get everyone a hippocampus.

The separatists had sent Seira a message that they wanted resolution now, she had barely been able to talk herself out of it without an escalation. In light of Coco's dethronement, things could go very wrong. Seira should return soon and she would have, if not for what Michel and her had discussed.

If their music somehow carried a magical effect that molded minds in a certain way, then should be able to see the effect if she knew what to look for. She planned to go on the Internet, read up on the politicians and royalty that they would meet. The intent was to monitor whether their behavior changed beyond positive emotions after exposure to mermaid music.

Michel had gone to talk to Michal about all this, she would serve as their information nexus. Since it was tedious for Seira to cross her stairs just to relay little bits of information and she didn't trust email, Michel had conjured up one of those bizarre televisions of his. It was the same as he'd made eleven years ago, a large oval thing with monster ornaments that could be stored in a tiny box. He had honestly had no idea how bizarre the thing looked in a fancy modern day suite, so she hadn't unboxed it yet.

So when she arrived in her suite and found it displayed proudly against the wall, complete with giant open shell couch before it, she did a double take.

"Ah, Seira, I didn't know magical television was available up here too," Sara said, peeking from behind the uplifted shell. "How was your day?"

"Just wonderful," Seira sad flatly. Banquet, dinner, chat with president, uncomfortable questions about tails and scales and cooks scared of serving fish, that was how.

"You talk as if you had television? Why is that?" Seira asked. She wanted bed, but was just a little worried that Sara might come across the channel meant for talking to Michal.

"Not as regent, but we had one down in Gackto's palace, curtsy of his parents. A bit of magic, a crystal ball and there, all of humanity's networks. Where else would Gackto and his harem have gotten their clothing styles?" Sara said casually, inviting Seira to sit next to her. Seira was a little impressed at how little trouble Sara had with the 'harem' in question.

Seira stepped into the giant seashell, finding the bottom half filled with water. Shifting into mermaid form, she curled up and rested her arms on her tail.

"Was there anything you wanted to show me?" she asked Sara.

The former princess took out a small hollow mollusc and tossed it at the television. It latched onto a random spot, and promptly the channel turned to a recording of a dark, underwater castle. It depicted a small Gackto with small versions of his water demons.

Seira had never imagined powerful, elegant Sara as being so bluntly unsubtle; this was starting to reek of embarrassing family photo time.

"When he was a little boy, he would waste his time before a television. Already plotting world domination, he wanted to adopt the looks of villains he saw in movies." A tiny Gackto with orange hair pranced across the screen, covered with metal trash molded to resemble a skull mask and spiky armor. He fought against Izul, who was dressed up as a shiny, evil mermaid. "Metal rusts in water, so he went for sissy instead. Then he started killing time by creating magical equivalents of wine and roses and being more metrosexual, finally accepting the legacy his parents had bestowed on him. They named him after Gackt for a reason." She laughed at that. Seira was more horrified at the fact that Gackto had apparently not just been separated from his brother, but from his parents as well.

"Well, this is very interesting, but I think I should go to bed," she said nervously. _And escape any more awkward bonding moments, please._

"They are starting fireworks after the concert, are you sure?" Oh right, giant celebration where Lucia, Hanon and Rina would perform. Several millions of people would be exposed to the magic effect now.

She fidgeted with the earring. Such a tiny thing, but the link to Michel's power was apparently what allowed her to think clearly. That meant her other ear was unprotected, but perhaps the earring head an area that spanned across her entire head? How did this work anyway? Michel hadn't been immune to the power of the song before, had he? Or had he just been reached because he wanted to?

Sara noticed the earring and was doubtlessly drawing the wrong conclusions.

"As your technical mother, I believe it is my place to inform you of the starfish and squids."

Oh yes, there it was. It was going to be one of _those_ conversations. Seira was starting to believe she was the only mermaid ever who was content with postponing romantic entanglement. Like, _after_ she restored peace to her kingdom, the world and figured out what was up with the potential emotionwashing.

"If you want to get pregnant, you need to stay in human form at least for a month, till your menstrual cycle kicks in properly."

Seira almost bit her tongue. "Sara!"

"What?"

"I'll think about babies once I'm ready! Besides, we don't even know whether angels and mermaids are genetically compatible."

She'd said that aloud. Time to turn red as a beet, and then very frightened. The Panthalassa Clan was unsealed and Coco was exiled, and mermaids still were ridiculously obsessed with men.

"You didn't even reach first base, did you?" When Seira didn't reply, she continued, "Licht is hosting a musical event, why don't we watch it? Maybe we'll spot Michel in the audience."

Seira hoped desperately these warped priorities weren't the product of magic and just Sara trying to create a better mood. There was no way to know. She dug her fingers into her hands.

Sara reached the channel, but it didn't show any concert. Instead, there was a reporter on screen.

_"—umstances are unclear. The police has arrived to investigate, but is lacking the supernatural qualifications to deal with the morphic environment —"_

Without hesitation Seira grabbed her phone and dialed Licht's number; Michal was probably too overloaded to deal with anything right now. Along the way, she summoned the magic for her staircase. Then the phone was answered.

"Licht? Are you alright? What happened?" she said frantically. On the screen, dead bodies were loaded into a helicopter.

"Seira?"

"Oh, thank goodness you're okay. I just saw the news about the ..."

"You can call all the way here?" He sounded incredulous.

"Licht, what's so weird about me calling you? My phone is magic, interference doesn't matter like with regular phones."

"Seira, I'm ... I don't have a phone anymore."

Besides her, Sara turned her head from the television to Seira.

The screen showed another body being wheeled out of the citadel and a subtitle scrolled by reading the name of the deceased. _Licht Amagi._

The reporter droned on about the circumstances of the events, arrested people and hate crimes, but only for a bit. Soon, the focus was on a digital recording of an angel driving apart the mob surrounding the conductor and his sister.

_"It would appear that even angels exist. There has been no confirmation yet whether it concerns an organic or spiritual creature, however, given the fact that the angel appears to leave fingerprints it may deal with just another less than divine source of myths._

_A woman matching the description of the angel was seen during the arising of the Panthalassa Clan in the passing days. The clothing style seems to be Indian and apparently, the overcloth conceals the wings, as she threw it off to reveal them."_ The screen showed some medieval depictions of angels in toga, trying to lay some link between that and the 'woman' seen.

Sara started zapping. To Seira, she said, "Keep talking to him."

Another channel focused on Michal apparently sporting a halo to some eyes, but not others. Licht's death was barely a footnote. It could still be some sort of error ...

"Licht, where are you?"

"I'm not sure. I'm following a road somewhere through stars, but there's a lot of counter-traffic."

"What?"

"Other Panthalassans, all around me. Seira, listen, I can't turn back. I only have a limited amount of energy before I fade from existence, I need to reach the end of this road before that. _You_ have to warn the others. They're talking about revenge on the Aqua Regina."

Seira had seen something very similar in a dream not too long ago. All the past generations of orange mermaid princesses had been there, and now the dead Panthalassans ... where did they even get the power to return? What was going on?

"Licht, wait ..."

"There's one more thing. I wasn't able to speak back there, some sort of barrier. Please tell Michal for me that she doesn't need to make up for anything. It's enough for me to know that this life she did see I was there for her."

"I will," Seira whispered. Her eyes were tearing up. "Goodbye, Licht."

"Goodbye."

Licht didn't answer anymore after that.

"Seira, are you alright?" Sara said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm going to there now. Michal's is going to get her brother's message and Michel's going to need to get out of there soon. Then we're going to Lucia. I have a few messages to deliver today."

**· · · · · · ·**

Michel was pretty good at ignoring internal despair in favor of a charade of strength. At least for a while.

During the fight with Garuda, through Michal they had been briefly shared a soul link. After Michal stopped upholding that link it was negligible, so Michel was surprised that it had returned upon Licht's death. Being dead should have _lessene_ d that link, not strengthened it. It made no sense, but he'd think about that later.  
Right now, he had a crime to unravel.

The men in black were rounding the leprechauns up while Michel stayed close to Michal, who had retreated in her room. Since he didn't want to go far from her, he ordered the leprechauns to be placed in a room close by and hoped there wouldn't be any screaming. Or him getting angry and tossing anyone at walls.

"This is the last of them." Michel nodded at the man and made a sharp gesture to indicate he was to leave.

The leprechauns were separated and surrounded by small barriers, cowering as Michal approached them.

"You are—" one tried.

"Shut up," Michel said. Reaching a hand through the barrier, he curled his fingers around the head of the nearest leprechaun. The others scampered away as far as their barriers allowed. He only needed to touch someone lightly to take their memories.

_Accessing_ the memories however required a very specific mental trigger, which stilled resided in whose brain those memories belonged. That was why stealing Kaito's memories learned him little but when he had eaten the Black Beauty Sisters, flesh and soul, he'd been able to access theirs easily. Right now, he had absolutely no intention of eating any bodies or capturing souls, so he needed to manufacture the trigger.

"Why did you conspire to kill Licht Amagi?"

It was _too_ easy. The memories immediately opened showed him a precise tale of how they had been hired by yokai to get a mob going. There hadn't been any particular plan to kill Licht, just to create discord. They had wanted to kidnap Michal, it was supposedly another plot like those in the past.

Supposedly.

Memories were the combination of all sensory input, touch, hearing, balance, scent, temperature, passage of time, and so on, stored by relevance. Emotional memories were more likely to be remembered than random facts seen in passing.

If they had indeed been promised to see their family, then these memories could be invoked by a trigger related to missing their families as well.

"So, about your missing relatives ..."

"Yes?" There were memories of the relatives, but nothing surfaced that also featured the deal they had supposedly struck. What little he got was blurry and unclear.

That was all he needed to know. The memories that pinned the blame on yokai were fake, so their real enemy was something with very different motives.

The memories were made by someone lacking the knowledge of how these creatures perceived the world, hadn't incorporated anything like body position and emotional anchors. Rather, these memories seemed to belong to someone who had felt rather neutral about the affair, and might just have been five foot above the ground. Once the memories had been implanted, the leprechauns had simply substituted their own self for that of the original owner.

He took the fake memories of each one and lowered the barriers. The leprechauns, now deprived of reason why they would have acted as they did, stood around completely lost. Michel felt a sting of regret over his treatment of them, they were likely just as much victims as anyone today.

"Your actions today were the result of a false promise and brainwashing. I've undone what little I could undo. You can go or stay, it doesn't matter."

**· · · · · · ·**

Licht had been right, there was a barrier around the castle that killed any sort of magical transmission. It wasn't an actual blockade, so Seira tried landing her stairway inside. What the barrier did do was mess up her ability to see the outcome, and she barely avoided materializing into a wall.

Redirecting her stairway till just outside the castle, she stepped into the forest. From here, she could see the citadel stand on the hill, brightly lit.

Nobody stepped out of the stairway after her, which had vanished. She sighed, this was another day not hers. Sara, Uchochikha and Mahahanu had come along, but the barrier had thrown off her aim. Across three different locations, she could sense pieces of her stairway fade.

She called their names, and soon Sara called back rather cheerfully, "Looks like we'll be walking!"

Sara was easy to spot in her bright orange dress reflecting the light, the nagas with their dark brown less so. Uchochikha raised his head before her and almost gave Seira a scare.

"We all here?" Sara asked when she caught up.

Before Seira could answer, a perky voice called, "Oh yes, we all are!"

Seira froze as she recognized Sheshe's voice. The three of them looked around, but the far light wasn't giving much more aid. The entire dark forest suddenly was filled with rustling.

"Uchochikha, can you see?"

"Naturally," he said, then noticed Sara's confusion and added, "heat vision. We're surrounded by about twenty humans, some elf folk and two creatures with a scent that I don't recognize.

"Clever snake," Mimi chirped for the shadows. "Not."

"Sheshe, Mimi, what in the abyss are you doing?"

"Our job," Sheshe purred, much closer this time.

Sara took a step to Seira and whispered, "I live on borrowed power, but I can enhance the effect of magic as previous owner of the orange pearl."

Seira nodded and shifted into her idol form, but before she could do so much as open her mouth, her microphone burst into pieces. The gunshot rung in her ears and she dropped what splinters remained.

"Ah ah ah, can't let you do that," Mimi chirped.

Seira was at the edge of her patience and decided to jump off. She shrieked at full power and the entire forest seemed to cry out in pain.

"Sara, can you still enhance my power without microphone?"

"I doubt it, there is no channel."

"Then me and Uchochikha are on our own," Seira said, a little louder than necessary. She hoped Mahahanu was just hiding and not captured somewhere, when she had used her voice she could notice some resonance. Perhaps because he wasn't an enemy.

She nodded at the naga and he shot into the dark. Seira took a deep breath and started raising her voice again, this time slowly increasing in power.

The dark prevented her from seeing any effect, but she heard it well enough. Part of her wondered just what would happen if she deliberately would lay hate into a song.

The chance to find out was denied when Sheshe suddenly jumped out of the undergrowth. Her eyes were wide and fangs barred, there was just enough light to see the blood running out of her ears and eyes. The surprise was enough to stop her voice for a moment, and that was her undoing.

Sheshe raised her gun and shot, a sharp hum coming from her throat. Whether she missed deliberately or intentionally was up for grabs, but the bullet went right past Sara's arm, causing her to cry out. With sickening speed, her arm started to swell and turn red. Sara collapsed to her knees, other hand hovering across her arm but unwilling to touch it.

"You traitorous witch!" she hissed. Sheshe met her glare with a disturbed smirk, then turned her attention to Seira by tipping her gun at her neck.

"If you open your mouth again, we're going to find out what happens when your pearl is caught in the tremor of my bullets. Won't that be interesting?"

"Why are you against us?" Sara asked. Sheshe looked into the dark and jerked her head. Mimi, bloody like Sheshe, emerged and delivered a jab in the back of Sara's neck, and Sara fell over.

"We'd threaten to kill your mom but from what our boss tells us, she technically a zombie anyway. So I'll just stick with my sister's threat of damaging your pearl. Might just be the end of the line of orange princesses, no? So no rash things."

Seira bit back a reply and nodded.

"Good girl. Now call back your snake," Sheshe said.

"Uchochikha! Come out and don't attack."

The naga appeared almost immediately, bloody for reasons entirely different than the Black Beauty Sisters. Seira flinched when she noticed what might be a finger sticking out of his mouth.

The sisters made a disgusted face. "Ugh, Seira, you keep hanging out with certain kinds of people," Sheshe said, raising her gun.

From the undergrowth, someone clad entirely in black stepped out, staggering. "Wait, that's not part of your orders."

"Our orders?"Mimi raised a hand, which was missing two fingers. "Our orders never said anything about meeting the sort that likes to eat people. We're not fond of those, you know."

She fired, and this shot was not a miss. Uchochikha coiled back, but wasn't remotely fast enough. First his serpent head exploded, then Sheshe added another shot to the neck, where the humanoid face had contorted into a silent scream.

"Just to be sure," she said.

Seira clasped her hands before her mouth, but the sound came out anyway. The man fell down immediately, she heard more fall in the bushes and the Black Beauty Sisters spasmed into impossible shapes. They weren't the only ones in pain, as Seira's throat started to sear. She swallowed the cry and gasped for air.

Another shot and Seira's legs burst. She fell down, this time her voice no more than a pained sob.

"Bad girl," Sheshe said. "I think I like you."

A cloth was pressed against Seira's nose and she started to lose consciousness.

With the last of her power, she opened a stairway just out of earshot and hoped Mahahanu would find it.

**· · · · · · ·**


	17. Interpolation

**· · · · · · ·**

Seira woke up in a white room, partially submerged in water. The floor was smooth and rounded up to the walls, much like a basin in a zoo.

She pushed up on her arms and strained her eyes against the bright white light. Around her were three solid walls and one of glass, behind which was a chair and another wall. No water was there, unlike her cell.

It was strangely cold, so she curled her tail forward to form a ball, only to notice the beads she usually wore there were missing. Instinctively her hand went to her necklace. It was missing too.

"Don't worry, your pearl is not far away. We'll ensure you won't die in its absence," said a familiar voice.

She looked up at the glass wall and saw someone walking into view. She had to squint her eyes a bit to recognize him, as his white suit had him blend easily with the background.

"Mister Archon?"

"Indeed, princess. I reckon you would like to know why," he said as he took a seat.

Seira glared at him as she thought. It was clear now that Mimi and Sheshe were indeed acting on his command, and this was just awfully close in timing to Licht's death. Why, though?

"In between the state of the world and me being on familiar terms with a goddess, yes, I would love to know why you would take the risk of abducting me."

He shrugged. "Whatever happens, who is there to accuse us? We'll just erase your memory of everything that might incriminate us."

Her eyes widened, at which he smiled. "Yes, we have that. We're not sure how we got it, but we suspect we once had someone named Lady Bat in our custody. It's not surprising that the master of the art eluded us, but that does not change that we have far more potential for the use of the power."

"If you're going to erase my memory, why talk to me at all?"

"Just in case we ever need you to become aware again. It will save a lot of time and prevent you from doing stupid things on base of the assumption we're villains seeking world domination or anything equally silly."

Ah. Lucia had once restored Kaito's lost memory with a kiss. It was quite possible they expected her to get back her memory on her own and they didn't want her to draw the wrong conclusions. She just hoped that wouldn't require any long standing romantic relationships.

"Frankly, we need bait. We failed to capture Michel during our last attempt when he abruptly changed route and went to the concert hall, which he shouldn't have known about. He has sharper senses than we expected, so we backed off before he noticed us. Our data is clearly not complete."

"That doesn't tell me why you did it."

"Oh, right. We like to bug hotels, you see. We know what you and Michel talked about and it had us quite worried. If it's true that mermaid songs have such a massive numbing effect, have you already considered what this means now that the world is exposed to this at large? The population would be wedged into a world of black and white. Those who accept the song will succumb to its effect and become friendly and passive, whole those who reject it receive the pain, and pain drives to aggression and fear."

"You don't know that," she said, unable to hide the tremor in her voice.

"No? But that's how it worked for centuries in your fairytale world, didn't it? Before Lucia's ascent, at least. She's not very skilled at what she does, it she? I wonder how quickly she will learn and return things to the way they were. Speaking of a change of status quo, have noticed any strange excesses of information? Say, satellites leaking the past, or visions of mermaid generations gone by?" he said. "How about earrings allowing you to think about unjust exiles?"

Seira froze. They had read her memories too. Her entire private life was up for grabs, every embarrassing, painful or weak moment. The room suddenly seemed a lot more bare and she let her face drop to floor, just barely submerging.

This position hid the frown that came when she realized there was a far stronger example he could have mentioned. The connection between Michel and Michal was beyond the healthy reflection they had once shared, way back in Michal's first incarnation. In her second, this link was so strong it could even soul-share energy from a related third party. There wasn't a clear reason why in this life, the link would be stronger, so it should be an example.

The first she had learned years ago, on an ordinary day playing with the young Michal. The second she had only learned days after the fight with Garuda, during a random day. If they were not aware of these, then they had not gone through _every_ single one of her memories. In fact, since the knowledge of Michal and Michel's link had been common to her for years, they might not even have access to overarching memories, just specific ones. She decided to be careful and not mention that.

Raising her face again, she said, "You think getting Michel will somehow help you stop that?"

"He is immune, we want to know why. We don't need world domination, in case you think so. We practically have that anyway. No, we just want our own souls. Yes, I am aware of the irony, given your position and my plans."

"But what do you want with Michel that you could not have asked him for?"

"Do forgive me. I said it would be useful if you could in the future quickly recall who were really are and what we do, not that it would be useful that you'd know our actual plans."

"So what will happen to me?"

He smiled strangely stiff. "Once we have Michel, you'll go back and remember him dying tragically. See, an evil yokai kidnapped you and he came to the rescue. It's corny and it's credible. After all, redeemed villains rarely do get to live to find happiness, do they? Off course, unlike death, there may be nothing for him to return from. Taking people's memories is taking part of the souls, apparently. I wonder how else souls can be dissected. The former emperor of the Ancients sure isn't around anymore."

**· · · · · · ·**

Down in the palace of her goddess self, Lucia once again had no idea what to do. In her hands was a parchment in archaic Japanese script that she could barely read. Anayis swam around her throne and sometimes looked over her shoulder. Before Lucia could finish deciphering the words, she said, "Poor Seira. But why would they want Seira in exchange for your staff?"

"Eh ... " Lucia instinctively held the staff closer and looked at the winged top. She usually just used it as a channel for her powers, but who knew what else it could do? It wouldn't be the first time someone else had known something vital that she didn't.

In a chair adjacent to the throne sat Gackto, who had been smugly waiting for Lucia to finish reading. She was pretty sure he knew she was just slow and not deep in thought, and it annoyed her a little that he hadn't offered to translate. Why wasn't he with Sara anyway?

"Say, Gackto, perhaps Sara would like your company?"

"No, I'm sure she's fine down in your little healing tub. We don't need to cling to each others sides twenty four hours to be supportive," he said with a smirk. "By the way, where is my brother? I expected him to have rushed to your side by now. You seem to need him."

"Kaito is in Coco's kingdom to keep peace," Lucia said sadly. It was true, she would like Kaito to help her make a decision right now. And preferably not Gackto, who would sooner or later probably make some remark about —

"This whole disaster could have been avoided if any of you had simply invited the Amagi's to move to the bottom of the ocean," Gackto said, striking his finger across the coarse, rocky chair. "While I understand his attachment to the surface world, it wouldn't have much a huge difference in lifestyle, now would it?"

"Yes," Lucia said with a small voice.

"There's a reason for that you're not going to like," said someone else.

Lucia looked up to see a very stressed, barely restrained Michel in the doorway, and behind him a Michal who looked like she'd been stabbed in the gut. She was staring at Gackto like he'd been the one to wield it.

Gackto wasn't affected much and said, "And what would that reason be?"

He was ignored.

"Lucia, can any sound escape this hall when the doors are closed?" Michel said.

"Not if I don't want it."

"Then make it so, and get him out," he said as he gestured for Gackto to leave.

"Ehm," Lucia started, but Gackto already stood up and left.

"I'm sure if it's important I'll hear later. Anayis, dear, why don't you show me how Sara is doing?" The pink princess shot out from behind the throne, making a bow around Michel and his ferocious energy, and was out before Gackto.

Michel closed the doors behind them, and Lucia put up a few barriers just to be sure.

"So, Michel and Michal, ehm, whatever you're about to tell me —"

"Remember eleven years ago, at the cliff? How did I recognize you as mermaids?" Michel asked.

"You ... you said something about scent, but how—"

"I was at the scene where Seira was abducted. What Sara remembers isn't what actually happened and those ransom notes are a decoy. There was indeed a fight that injured Sara, but her opponents were the Black Beauty Sisters, not some yokai."

"But ... they work for ..."

"Exactly."

Well. That was ... Kaito wasn't here, she had to keep her head together.

"Lucia, I'm going to explain you something now about the world," Michal said. "I just realized it will also explain why me and Licht never did what Gackto had said."

What they went on to explain took one pillar after another out from below Lucia's understanding of the world, of her divinity and of fate.

Why Kaito's reason for keeping the Panthalassans down had never been valid, why it made no sense that mermaids had no inventions, technology, legal system or culture of their own. How Sara could have such drastic swings in allegiance, how seven kingdoms that covered seventy percent of the globe could be so unified under princesses that had spent most of their time on shore in their greatest need.

_Magically induced passivity._

They could not escape the fairytale cage, while Lucia already stood outside.

"Is Kaito also affected?"

"Probably," Michal said.

"Would he love me if he wasn't?"

"By God's name, that's the least of our problems. If you don't believe it by reason alone, then we don't know how we'll convince you," Michel said.

"No, I do believe you. You know, when I fell ill just before becoming the new Aqua Regina, Seira felt horrible because she thought it was her fault, since I had carried her pearl. I told her she could be a good princess like as of us, and the first thing she asked was whether she'd fall in love, and neither of us thought that was strange."

That probably sounded as a bad reason to believe it, considering Michel's look right now.

"I really do. But why are you telling me all this now?"

"Because it's too coincidental that right after me and Seira realize this, Licht dies and Seira is abducted, both most likely orchestrated by our nameless 'friends'. It had to have something to do with what we realized, so I'm telling you this before I go. If they take my memories, you will still know."

Lucia nodded. "I understand, I think. Well, I'm not sure what to think of it. If it's indeed our own songs that keep us this way, then why wouldn't the former Aqua Regina have told us? She always wanted the best for us, and for you too," Lucia said.

"Perhaps she's a victim too, to some degree," Michel said. "We won't know till we get to the bottom of this, if we aren't chasing a ghost. Now to getting Seira back. Do you know anyone at all with combat skills?"

"Kaito can raise protective barriers and Hippo can use some energy attacks when he's got his rod, but they're both already dealing with other stuff. Hippo became a minister recently. But I could come! I only have some interviews."

"You can't go," Michal said with a thick throat. "If they get their hands on you, it would be the end of it. Kaito and Hippo are politically active, they can't be involved either. One recording, one bit of a truth out of context is all it takes for things to go wrong. I just saw it very recently."

It took Lucia a moment to realize what she was talking about.

"Alright. Is there anything else I can do, aside of teleporting you somewhere?"

"You could get Lanhua and Alala to safety, just in case," Michel said.

"Off course! I'll look into that as soon as I've created a good teleportation way for you. Please go down to the sea cradle."

The two left and Lucia sank down in her throne, burying her face her in hands and breathing in the cold water. She was starting to hate being the only goddess in the world.

**· · · · · · ·**

Michel didn't have any wonder left to spare right now, though the sea cradle admittedly was impressive. The hall dwarfed the throne room in sheer width and length, but not in height. It was very low in fact, not built with the idea anyone ever would need to stand upright here.

Basins carved into the floor were full of heavy water, glowing in gold. Sara lay in one of these pools with Gackto sitting at her side. They were quietly talking and hadn't noticed them yet.

Michal wondered why they could not help, to which Michel tried replying by sending her the feeling of distrust. She looked at him, puzzled. He realized that was probably too fake, since he didn't completely distrust those two. Eleven years ago, the manipulating emotions he had given Michal had been based off of his own very real ones. So he thought very deliberately of the time Gackto had explained he would use drastic methods to protect the princesses, and the potential consequences of that. The Panthalassa Clan might just obey him this time.

Michal's own mind filled in the blanks of the transmission, and she nodded.

When Michel and Michal approached, they stopped speaking. Sara met Michel with a harsh look, which was enough to make him explode right now.

" _What_?" he snapped at her.

"You should have taken Michal elsewhere immediately," Sara said sharply. "If you had done that, we never would have needed to go there!"

"I was busy interrogating!"

"You can't fight now," was all Michal said, then she casually pushed Michel into the pool nearest to him and threatened to step on Sara's tail, which was sticking out of her own pool. Sara withdrew her tail, now glaring at Michal, but silent. Michel got up from the dense golden water and irritably got up. He shook his wings and crossed his arms, not looking at Sara anymore.

"Lucia will make us a portal here soon. Michel will go alone to deal with the, eh, yokai. Gackto, if you can spiritwalk from here to meet Lanhua and Alala ahead, that would do us a great favor. There is reason to believe they might be targeted by the same group."

"I suppose that might still fall under my order of looking after Lucia and her folks. Alright," Gackto said. He then bent across the pool and lifted Sara's head with a finger. "Now, my love, be a bit friendlier. These people are awfully mysterious today, they'll never tell us the full story if we're angry at them."

Sara sighed and took Gackto's hand. "True enough."

Then, to Michel she said, "I'm sorry, but you need to understand what's at stake." She didn't sound very sorry. "If it takes so little for Coco's people to exile her, it would be not take much more for Seira's people to do the same. This would be the perfect time for a coup d'état. When we heard the news, I was in the middle of talking her into having you move into her kingdom, you could have protected her."

"We get it," Michal said before Michel could respond. "He'll get her back."

It was fine with him, let her deal with them. He turned away and sat on a jutting rock some distance.

Lucia let herself he awaited for a long time.

When one of the pools shot up to the ceiling, forming a pillar with a door, he was up at once and ready to leave. However, the door opened on its own and out drifted Mahahanu.

Michel backed off, leaving the naga some space to get out. Mahahanu looked around frantically, didn't seem to find what he sought. He looked somewhat bloodied.

"What are you doing here?" Micheal asked.

"Only Sara is here?"

"Yes. Seira was abducted."

"By the—"

"Yes," Michal said quickly. "I'm going to get her now."

"I will accompany you, but I have one more question yet. Where is my friend?"

Michel's shoulders slumped. "They killed him."

If the naga had any response to this, he couldn't see it, but he smelled it well enough. Well then, there would be two blood thirsty monsters on a rampage soon.

The gateway behind them started shifting and Michel got a hint why it had taken Lucia. Teleporting others wasn't within her talents either, apparently, so she took what Seira had already created.

Michal swam up and he turned to her.

"Take care of Alala and Lanhua once they arrive," he said, hoping to soothe down her intention to go along. Her energy low as it was right now, she wouldn't be of much use. She knew and nodded to both he had told her.

Much to his surprise, she then hugged him. "You're my other brother, so you have to come back."

"I will, either dead or alive," he said with a chuckle. It really was a redundant thing to say, and they both knew.

****· · · · · · ·** **


	18. Extirpation

· · · · · · ·

Lucia created a gate to what she sensed as an aquatically inactive area of the hidden city. Upon their emergence from the stairway, she turned out to be right. Nothing alive was in this area, and so there was nothing to spot them.

The passage closed behind them, ready to be reopened upon their return. Michel hoped Lucia had been able to keep the passage hidden well enough. This location was out of range of the headquarters and thus the barrier was weak here, but Lucia's strength wasn't in precise magic.

Mahahanu looked around curiously. "Is it supposed to be like this?"

Michel nodded, looking around at the walls himself. They were lined with engravings that depicted all manner of magical birds with humanoid features.

"After my kind died out, our creations continued living in these cities for a while, praying for the return of their ancestors. That was millions of years ago, they have forgotten by now. Can you imagine Garuda being humble and hopeful?"

Mahahanu snickered. "That certainly would be a sight. If they hadn't forgotten, the world might look very differently."

Michel's eyes lingered for a moment on the engravings that depicted a row of small sirens with halos above them. They were depictions of creatures who had existed, Fuku stood amongst them prominently.

"Not all forgot," he said. "Now come on. Seira is waiting."

They left the small room and came into a long hall large enough for Michel to fly in, drawing closer to the center by navigating on scent, and later on signs of civilization. First, renovation sites, trying to make the ruined city a saver place. The engravings were being torn down and replaced by simple plaster and pillars stabilized ... at least, that had been going on. All these sites were abandoned.

The first life they encountered was a hall used by refugees, at least, that was what it smelled like. They didn't go closer to avoid being detected themselves. Around here, the presence of barriers increased.

Not a whiff of Seira and the presence of all these other creatures didn't help. Still no sign of cameras, but they passed several barriers, though none triggered any alarms.

"Strange, these barriers should respond to genetic codes. I understand why mine slips through, but yours?"

"At least fifty thousand naga subraces, or so Kadru has told us," Mahahanu said simply. "I don't get why they don't set the radar to pick up anything unfamiliar?"

"Ever heard of bacteria?"

"No. I tried school when I was little, but the humans just screamed."

"There are a few million more bacteria than there are naga subraces. Now quiet."

A lot of the city was unused and still in ruins. They went up and down several levels, circled the refugee areas and become frustrated.

It was starting to look like a maze. Off course, with so much creatures running around, a prison would have to be hidden well.

They took the risk to get closer and then they caught Seira's scent. Not directly, but it was on a few people in casual clothes. Some staff referred to them as actors, as far as he could hear.

He decided to backtrack them, leading the two to what appeared an ordinary steel door, roughly worked onto the ancient stone.

They could not pass it without being spotted, so here they threw all caution in the wind. Michel knocked out everyone in sight while Mahahanu broke the door off of its hinges.

They sped down the narrow rocky passage behind it, but didn't come far when a teleportation gateway popped two creatures in their path.

Shots were fired at once, Michel's felt the side of his stomach cut just above his belt and Mahahanu collapsed.

Before them stood the Black Beauty Sisters, each armed with a gun, and spares on their hips.

"Mind telling us how you found out it was a trick?" Sheshe said.

"Shut up!" Michel said, stretching his wings wide. Mahahanu got up.

It wasn't a hard guess they were either bribed better than he had done, or their memories were taken. Something wasn't right though. They of all people should know of Michel's scent, it shouldn't be a surprise to them he hadn't fallen for the evil-yokai ruse.

The hall was too narrow for Michel to fly and his wings only made him a large target, so he folded them tightly behind his back. Mahahanu was grazed at his left side and clearly hindered, while Michel's own leg had a similar wound. These had been warning shots, they were to be taken alive.

A sound behind drew his attention and he quickly looked around. Another gate had opened there, and he saw the last glimpse of a person vanishing, a person holding a glowing ring. He instinctively grabbed to his belt, realizing the halo was gone.

"Mahahanu, we're on a time limit," he said. "Can you still fight?"

The naga nodded and Michel took a step forward, dodged aside when Sheshe raised her gun. He wasn't quick enough to avoid bullets once fired, but if he had a decent guess where they would fire ...

The shot fired, he dodged, but nothing passed him by, not even the quick sound of the bullet. Instead it came from the back. The bullet tore through his wings and embedded itself on a rib, causing Michel to stagger forward.

Sheshe fired again, but this time Michel ducked just quick enough, and they had to step aside. They only laughed.

Looked like someone had found interesting ways to use teleportation. They were still slowed than him. He twitched a wing behind his back, distinct to the naga aside of him but not to the enemy.

He pretended to run forward, halted when they aimed at his head. In this moment, Mahahanu shot forward and and bit into Sheshe's leg. Mimi shot him again and the naga let go, cringing back. Michel used the moment to dart forward and grab Mimi's arm, twisted it out of its socket in one go.

Lacking his halo and bleeding, there was the first tingle of hunger, begging him to devour what was before him. Involuntarily, his teeth parted and Mimi's eyes grew wide with terror.

"Don't you dare, Michel!" Sheshe screamed.

Just in time he caught himself, kicking Mimi away from him. Behind him he heard the click of a gun and he unleashed his whips, turning around at the same time. He knocked the gun out of her hand quicker than she could aim and Mahahanu was on her the next moment, curling around her.

It would be so easy to eat her now, his instincts begged. Looking elsewhere didn't help, a broken Mimi was in his sight again. The scent of blood only made it worse. He backed off, down the hall, causing Mahahanu to look up in confusion.

"Tss, tss, Michel. Explain me, I never managed to understand how you can loathe yourself at the same time as thinking of yourself as so powerful and invincible?" Mimi said, breathing heavily. "It's quite some power you have, why not enjoy it?"

"You didn't look like you wanted me to a few seconds ago. Now tell me where Seira is!"

"Oh, she's here, but you already know that," Mimi said as she slowly stood up. She raised up a hand and the ceiling started twisting, the rock dripping down as if it were liquid. Something dropped out before Mimi. He sped forward to grab it, but Mimi already had it. Her injuries healed at once and with unusual agility she jumped out of the way.

When she stood still for a second, he saw it was a familiar staff, very much akin to Lucia's goddess staff, but spiked fins where hers had feathered wings. A forcefield errupted from the core point, throwing back Michel and Mahahanu, but let Sheshe go free to join Mimi.

Together they planted the staff in the ground, causing blue energy to wash out like waves. The world around them bent sharply, almost like a shattering mirror.

The energy hit them full forced. Michel cringed, not because of pain but something had him lose control.

"I figured that with something like you, we'd need something more drastic," Sheshe said. "Bye bye now."

He could only see bits and pieces of them, drifting around at random splinters. He felt where his body was in relation to the ground, kept all his sense of balance, but sight and sound was utter chaos.

"What are you doing?"

From a direction he couldn't tell, or perhaps forgot right away, Sheshe's voice came, "Never wondered why a _sea_ goddess would wield a staff with _wings_ on it? Doesn't quite add up, no?"

" _That_ is the staff of the air sphere. This is the water sphere's. It can do very similar things, you know," Mimi added with glee.

Splinters of grinning was were the last he saw before they stole his memory of his senses, and everything he saw was lost a second later, rendering him virtually blind and deaf.

He tried lashing out at random, but didn't hit anything.

Not even Fuku had been skilled enough to tamper with Michel's memory, even if he could control his body through sheer willpower. How these two ... if they were indeed doing it and not someone else ... what was that staff ...

Every thought pattern broke apart, nothing made sense ... nothing finished ...

They were taking his memories.

He had never thought about how it had to feel, knowing he was about to lose himself and someone else would get what he lost in their hands ...

If the Aqua Regina could control the air staff, he should be able to control the sea staff, having divine blood as well ...

He couldn't stop it, but he could decide where it went. Michal, soulbound as they were, was the obvious deposit where the staff wasn't certain where to put those memories.

He couldn't afford to forget why he was here. It had taken his memory ... it wasn't taking anything he was thinking of right now, otherwise he would be forgetting Mahahanu ... he focused all his attention on Seira and Mahahanu, because if he forgot his allies here they would not be safe from his instincts ...

Michal ... he pushed everything to her, weighing her memories on the emotions they were founded on. For once in his life, Michel found use to being being so bloody emotional in nature.

Seira ...

Why was he here?

"Much better, ne, Michel?" something said.

Michel?

What did that mean?

**· · · · · · ·**

Michal did not feel like meeting Alala and Lanhua, did not feel like answering their questions and providing proof. She saw her brother die over and over in her mind, and a far away Michel had regressed into a primal fury that pleaded her mind to please, just kill something. It was beyond his usual anger and the first swell of that murderous thirst was edging closer. Within that, any effort not to think about Licht was futile.

Her only consolation was that her body was frozen, her brain unable to deal with so much data. She had curled up in a corner and tried waiting it out, but a knock on her door wouldn't let that be.

"Come in," she said softly.

Yuri appeared in the doorway, floating with her a net full of random things. Michal recognized things from her laboratory as well as photo albums, music books and other things that must have seemed like personal possessions to Yuri. A lot was missing, a lot didn't need to be here, Michal noted with almost casual disinterest. There was a persistent urge to rip apart Yuri, but those were not her instincts and so it remained nothing but an urge.

"I'll put these down here, alright?" said Yuri, giving the massive bundle a little push towards another corner.

Michal nodded, probably too weakly.

"Michal, if there's anything I can do for you ..." Yuri said, hesitantly. She had become such a kind person in the passing years, probably thanks to the power of those songs. If Yuri knew about it, would she grow to hate it too and turn on those who sang? Like before?

He brother fell down another time.

Michal was supposed to still be crying and she was. She just could not show it right now, and that's all that Yuri saw, a girl who seemed fine.

"Empathy overload. Brain uses twenty percent of daily energy intake with normal people. It uses more with me, so I have less for muscles," she droned. "Can't move too much."

Yuri stood there, clearly confused.

"Hippo is about to arrive with Alala and Lanhua. You mean you can't come?"

Michal looked at her with fake blankness, eyes fixed on the door frame that looked nothing like the one through which Licht had vanished.

"Maybe _I'll_ try."

She did get up, eventually. One of the great fortunes of Panthalassan magic was that she could not only pretend that water was air, it also meant she could pretend to be flying. Letting most of her magic do the work, she pulled ahead to the main hall.

"Ah, glad you could come. Say, is this abduction when they'll agree retroactively?" Yuri said as she arrived.

Michal just shrugged and leaned against a pillar, focusing on the sand before her to avoid the extra stimuli.

What was happening to Michel? Flashes of memory not her own seeped into her, they showed the world through his eyes ...

Hippo was in his full equine formed, circling down through the tower from which he had entered at the peak.

Lanhua only had a suitcase, but Alala had six. Hippo looked visibly strained to keep his regal drift as opposed to just plain sinking.

When he finally halted above the sandy floor Alala practically jumped off, only to drift away in a current rather than make the dramatic landing she had apparently wanted. Hippo held up his tail to catch her and brought her to the floor, where Lanhua had sunken to by that time.

"So where's this angel we're supposedly related to?" Alala demanded.

"Related is a ... not quite the correct word," Hippo said. "Anyway, welcome to the palace of the Aqua Regina, whom you will meet in short notice and —"

"Cut the nonsense. You people dragged me from my home without much explanation. I only went because I've seen what they do to magical creatures. If I am one indeed, it would endanger my ..." she trailed off. "Family is a cheap word anyway."

This triggered a memory distinctly not of Michal. She ... he ... Michel was floating, looking down to his three servants, the light of fire coming from behind him ... Lanhua worrying about being able to protect Michel, and him lashing out in misplaced pride. Toppling that memory were later emotions of shame, revolt, regret ... now mingling with Michal's own horror at what this memory spun out into. Hunger. Satisfied.

"Who is the zombie?" Alala asked, pointing at Michal. "That's not the winged one we were supposed to meet, right?"

In a distant way, they were family too, insofar the fact that her father had engineered them. Family, even though Michal had anything bit nice responses for Alala over that nickname. But she couldn't even speak. Her brain froze up as more and more information poured in, her muscles tensed as if raw energy was pumped in, she felt her limbs stiffen in an oncoming seizure.

Control slipped away, and the soft current started dragging her along. Heavily, she sank to the floor, swaying in the currents. She was dimly aware of Yuri approaching and Hippo turning into human form, but it didn't matter anymore, because this was when the pain began.

She screamed, trashed her limbs for as far as the locked muscles allowed. Flesh and cloth alike were shredded as something pushed out of her back. A whirl of memories and ancient instincts poured up, thoughts of flight, of wings, of power, of soul manifest, just to be torn away by overpowering pain. The cross on her forehead glowed bright and her scream turned into a constant wail that lasted until the wings broke free.

Red filled the water around her. By the time Michel's last memories and their power along had entered Michal's soul, she had torn muscles and broken ribs and her vocal cords were gone. On her back was one set of dull red wings, ruffled with incomplete feathers and misshaped flesh. All she felt now was the numbing sensation of the salt water against its featherless parts, and that too disappeared as she was lost in a sea of memories.

**· · · · · · ·**

"Who are you?"

"I am Gackto, your king."

"Why?"

He raised an eyebrow, but didn't stop smirking.

"You have the ancestry of the Panthalassans, you have our power."

"I'm a kitchen sink of ancestries, so what?"

"I'm able to step into your head because of your Panthalassan blood, so I say I have a fair call."

"Nope. Michel and me share a soul and the Ancient blood keeps me alive where the Panthalassan blood kills me. Buzz off. I'm busy."

"So I have noticed. I came to offer you help."

"And possess my body in the process? Seriously, buzz off."

"You are quite unkind, considering—"

"You broke into my mind? Since you were so 'kind' in the first place, I didn't care to be unkind in return. You surely noticed Michel dumped all his memories here? That includes the memory of the memory theft technique. I know why you're here."

The first thing she had grabbed were his motivations, leaving him momentarily confused about why he was linked to Michal right now. She used this to sort through the bundle of extra information she got along with that.

Gackto had spent a lot of his childhood watching television in the upper world by possessing escaped Panthalassans, a fact that he carefully hid. Part due to shame, part due to ... oh dear goodness.

"You knew? The entire time, you knew?"

"Not all my cast away people end up on shore. I've experienced the effect while possessing some of them," Gackto said. She had a vague impression of him frowning, then a formless awareness of him figuring out himself again.

"Oh, you're clever, Michal. Don't draw the wrong conclusions, please. I would never have mustered the willpower to perfect possession if I didn't have a lot of time to kill. You'll understand that agency is a big deal for me, given where I come from."

"It's a big deal for me too, so get out."

"I just want information, I won't take anything from you. All I desire is the truth about the world, and my dear Sara is also quite curious where her daughter went. So, whether you like it or not, I will help you create order in this chaos."

With that, he wasn't nice anymore.

**· · · · · · ·**

Michal Amagi remembered everything.

Even the things she shouldn't have a clear memory of.

Birth.

Rebirth.

Vague chromosomal lives with her brother. Being in love with Kaito. A Michel who was cold to the world. Her father on fire, who had sacrificed her body and soul, then died to save her soul. A small Seira who tried encouraging her. She herself, aware of Lanhua and Lady Bat and Alala and how much they cared for Michel.

_I wanted to destroy the world over a boy._

Knowing what had been done to her mind didn't help. Knowing that during teenage years, the brain's ability to experience compassion regressed for a period didn't either. She now liked this world, crappy as it was.

Fuku, a tiny, half moon grin under those large, hollow eyes. He had told her it would be best for Michel if she returned to earth, she had believed him redeemed back then because ... because ... that was the popular opinion. The Aqua Regina had not minded, after all.

Michal had to agree with Gackto on this one, the Aqua Regina had some things to answer for.

That didn't mean she had to like how he planned to get those answers.

**· · · · · · ·**


	19. Erudition

**· · · · · · ·**

No matter how much it wanted to, there was nothing to destroy here.

Here ... a bright angular place, a smooth obstruction that kept it from whatever was outside. It had some basic understanding that something other than smooth existed, a distant recollection of ... _something_.

Its entire being felt cut off from _something_ that should be around him, something far greater than this small space. A hole larger than itself, was that even possible?

It knew it was real. There was another like it, far away, asleep, but through that one it could tell a bigger world existed. The world reflected through that one's link, taunting it with its existence that it had no way of reaching. It wanted back to that, certain it had come from there.

Sound was the first it rediscovered, but it changed nothing about the place. Only food was the occasional diversion. It never was enough. It felt like it should be strong, but it could not remember a time when it had been like that. Just knew it had to be.

The passage of time it understood, but it had no way to measure it. They should be a way.

Everything was missing.

The longer it was awake, the more it realized just how many specific holes there were in its existence. That missing world, missing sensations, missing things ... instinct screamed for it to leave this place, it was unnatural, but it knew no way to act on that instinct. Another instinct said it was too weak, recover before leaving here, but how to get strong? It did not know that either.

It tried to find a way out using its limbs ... it knew exactly how to move those, but not its names. The two on its back it felt should make him rise, though it had no idea what would happen then. Its muscles remembered things it did not remember doing, and did they anyway.

It started to pace. There was some sort of fabric around its body, it had not felt wrong at first, but now it kept stepping on the lower end of it. There was a feeling that shouldn't happen, and a feeling something was missing, around its arms, neck, head and waist. After a while, out of sheer frustration, it started tearing apart those annoying lower ends.

So occupied, it created a thin layer of thread across the floor, until it got bored and turned to its own hair. It was so long it reached the floor, and it could be destroyed without feeling pain. By the time it had shortened the thin threads down to a rough mess barely past its shoulders, one of the walls moved.

It was on its feet right away. The wall had partially moved away, revealed another hollow space from which it was separated by the remaining bit of transparent wall. In that space a number of creatures muled around, many of them gazing through the wall.

They were familiar, though it could not recall ever having seen them before ... it knew it had, but the images stayed away from its awareness.

There was one thing though ... as it observed them moved, the recollection of one creature surfaced ... it had only one lower limb, instead of two like itself and those things, and like all, it lacked wings. It had a color it couldn't see anywhere around here, and as it thought about that, another creature surfaced. This one with a similar, but darker color, and without limbs at all. Just long and with two faces. They were allies, it recalled. It had to find them, protect ...

... against those things out there. They were the enemy. And something else. It could feel a dim lifeforce resonating from them.

The enemy was also the energy it needed so badly. If it could get to them, it could probably hold it down and eat. Instincts said it would move, fight, but it would not be strong enough and fall.

It lunged at the wall, falling backward when it did not break as easily as expected. A wing was in the way as it landed and cracked painfully, but it stood up again and lunged a second time, a third time.

The wall started cracking and it focused on that spot. Once it had an arm through, it was easy to tear out. It hardly felt the cuts and the first creature on the other side was not quick enough.

**· · · · · · ·**

The organization was staffed by humans, elves, werewolves and any creature that could marginally pass for human. Figures not intended for the public often had more fantastical features, like the Black Beauty Sisters with their fins, horns and fangs. All in all, they were not unfamiliar with monstrous strength and how to contain it. Yet, barely a day after Michel's capture and the first victim had fallen. Perhaps it was because he did not look so monstrous.

Despite all his sources of energy being stripped away, Michel still had an inhumanly strong body that could last days without water, was immune to most tranquilizers and reacted dangerously to others, and he was hungry.

As the body of the lab assistant was wheeled out of the containment sector, Radu placed a hand before her mouth. The body was covered by a sheet, but a trick of flesh dripped from beneath it and called forth traumatic memories. She turned away.

She and a small cluster of other scientists had been on their way to join an experiment in the containment area. It was their luck they were late. Michel was free and until they figured out to get a sturdier prison, and how to knock him out again and get him into it, there would be no tests on the angel. They had only gotten out this body be creating a teleportation stairway.

"I think we have work to do," she said stiffly to the two people aside of her, noticing they weren't following.

"Yeah..." Richard said. When he turned to follow, she saw he was upset. Merron took another moment, her face steeled into a stoic expression.

They'd deal, she knew. She had seen them worse. The walk to their station passed in silence and Radu held the door open for them.

"I'm going to file to have those memories removed," Richard said as they entered their personal laboratory.

"Don't," Merron said with a strained voice. "We'll have to look at that monster quite a bit, this way we're prepared for what he can do."

"I can be _told_ about that, I don't have to remember it in person," he said irritably. "Right, Rad?"

"I'll have to agree with Merron here," she said quickly. "It's better to grow resistance than take the easy way out." Him having people dig into his memories would be unfortunate.

She cast a quick looked around the laboratory, where staff was already setting up things. Given there had been no research on Michel, more than half of the experiments would have to be postponed, but Radu did not feel like figuring out ones right now. Word of the attack had doubtlessly spread like wildfire, if the tense and quiet behavior of their assistants was any indication.

In fact, some of them were standing together, bent across a screen rather than working. Judging from the glimpses, someone had been hacked into the security cameras, or rather, found Radu's hobby tools and used them. Mentally she scolded herself, but on the outside she carefully kept her face in its Not Gonna Throw Up mode. Quietly, she walked up and looked over their shoulders.

The footage they were watching was real time.

To drive off Michel while evacuating and retrieving the attacked, they'd used a particular gas bomb that should have knocked him out, but had only driven him into the cell. It meant the wall could not yet be fixed, so the entire area had been locked. He was out of the cell again and had just finished draining a torn off arm of its blood. He'd start eating now.

"Oh hell no, he just bit clean through that bone," an assistant yelped.

"Please mind your language," Radu said.

"Mind my — Are you even watching this?"

"Why so surprised? You knew we were dealing with an extremely powerful magical entity."

"Yeah, but he looks so sissy. I thought it meant he was a wizardly type. You know, the sort that's harmless once you take their magic away."

"He wouldn't be here if he had the patience to be wizardly about his powers. We are the squishy wizards, and he's immune to most of our spells. Let's hope those walls last." She reached forward and flipped the screen off. "Now, you better return to work before I report you are watching unauthorized channels."

"We didn't do this! We came across it by accident!"

"Sure you did. The high level security data channels are something you can come across by accident."

"Really!"

"Back to work," she snapped.

Work in question was investigating Michel's magic items. When the unconscious angel had been brought in, they'd taken off all the gold jewelry and the flute. The items were now propped up in isolated cages.

This work was less fancy than the research of the 'main course', if the big shot scientists were to be believed, but Radu and her two friends knew it was the most relevant right now. Proximity to these things apparently were what had allowed the orange princess to become more lucid, despite the hypothetical complacency field.

What followed was a tedious process of testing, starting with having an elf play the instrument and then figure out whether the lack of effect was because the magic was not right; elves rooted in earth magic, perhaps they needed another type? The flute doubtlessly was magic, but not like any other magic item in itself. It was like an extension of the power of Michel, as were the golden bands and circlet, yet they weren't organic.

At one point, DNA tests came in with confusing results. It was patched DNA unlike any they'd seen. Not a blend, _actual_ patchwork of two genetic codes glued together and relying on a system of RNA so complex they didn't even recognize it at first.

Part of it was the unknown DNA of the Ancients, which somewhat matched track records of Mincy Mellyson and nothing else. The other strain was an unstable combination of Panthalassan DNA mixed with human. The unknown strain had this one attached aside of it, and some parts of it off in lieu of the other's parts actively invoked by the RNA. The lungs in particular seemed to rely on the Panthalassan DNA, though Radu couldn't share how she knew this.

This didn't even begin breaching how magic interacted with this, off course.

Radu was mostly bored with this old information. Her concern was with the direction of the research. Archon's motives had taken an unusually foggy nature lately and none of the tests he ordered were ... out of the ordinary. Just the expected science stuff, answering the rudimentary questions any of them would have. What was going on here? Why did he need Michel contained if he didn't have a particular plan?

She was in the middle of testing one of the earrings and its effect on a recording of mermaid music when she overheard a conversation. People were wondering why, exactly, did they take all memories of that angel? He seemed to be less inclined to eat people when he still had them, and the explanation that he could not know anything to keep him docile had a shaky ground for obvious reasons.

They had an excellent point. Even Michel's memory of language was gone. Archon had yet to release a statement on any of this.

Radu corrected herself. That was _one_ thing that was not ordinary about Archon's decisions.

Sorting through stolen memories was nigh impossible, since most brains they were placed in simply didn't have the 'brain routes' to trigger their recollection. It did not help they couldn't take in the actual memories, which remained in the Sea Staff. They got copies, which were as fleeting and erasable as any energy not embedded on a piece of soul. Getting the right memories out of Michel's head would have been far more possible if those memories were in his actual head.

As working hours ran close, she decided to ask Merron about it. She was a rank higher, and even if she had been fed lies, it might give Radu a clue.

"I've heard some word of them trying to obtain a possible host who could handle it," Merron said. "I'm guessing they thought he might use his knowledge of magic to escape."

"But we can't even communicate with him like this. We might be able to keep him in check if he knew that misbehavior could result in danger to Seira," Radu said. "At least, from what we gather from her, those two care about each other."

"True, but I'm sure Archon has a good reason for what he decided. Today's accident was unforeseeable, but ..." she sighed. "It's part of the job. We have to protect the world."

That was a unofficial motto of the organization, a few quick words spoken whenever there was uncertainty. Either Merron had heard something she really did not like, or she had heard nothing because there was nothing they could.

Radu froze as realization dawned. Perhaps they _didn't have_ Michel's memories at all.

Michal and Michel had never quite been able to exchange thoughts, last time she had checked, but physical energy and emotions well enough. She didn't know enough about the Sea Staff to make clear judgments yet, but it was an angle.

Merron put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to startle.

"You alright? I know it's tough, but try not to think about it too much. You can't deal with memories if the feeling's there, but not the memory itself."

As if she needed to be told that. But she played the part, and hid her eyes behind her hand, feigning a weak voice. "I know, it's just ... I'll be fine, really."

"This is getting too gloomy. Come on girls, shift is almost over. Say, did we enact those memories for the princess yet?" said Richard. "I'd love to get a role this time."

"Don't count on it," said Merron. "We have trained actors for this exactly because people notice if something isn't right."

"Oh come on, I'd be great. Radu, what do you think?"

She looked up and pushed her lips into a weak smile. "Honestly, sweetie, you are too much of an open book. Nobody would believe you as an ambushing yokai."

She felt sorry for him, he was trying his best to keep up a charade of cheer. Bringing in cannibalistic angels to experiment on for vague reasons was so far out of normal routine that there were very few in the entire city that felt calm right now, but everybody tried to act.

The suspicions of the brainwashing power of the mermaid songs had quite shaken up the dust of lingering suspicions. Whispers here and there wondered whether perhaps, Archon and his associates wanted to have this power for some far fetched world domination plan, given the limits of memory manipulation. She could hear them a few meters behind them, and out in the halls.

Radu turned to finish up her work, directed a few assistants, and apologized for snapping earlier. They understood, off course. Keeping on friendly therms with everyone was important, in case she had to get close later.

Once all was set, Radu was the one to switch off the lights. She was always last to head out, but today she was not alone. She heard him standing there around there corner, shifting on his feet.

With a sigh, she rounded the corner, humming softly.

"Say, Radu, would you like me to walk you to the teleportation room? You know, just in case there are any outbreak, I know what to do. You haven't been here for so long, so ..." Richard said.

She tapped his nose and he froze up. "Ever so subtle, Richard. I'll say it again, I don't think you want to start anything with me."

Radu spun around and walked away. Richard stood in a daze for a moment, then woke up. By that time, Radu was already down the hall.

Her destination was the security staff. She opened the door, stepped in and smiled charmingly at the man.

"Miss Radu? What brings you here?" he said happily. He was one of the people who liked her best, she had made sure of that.

"A few people in my laboratory were watching the cameras on our feathered guest, have you been slacking off?" she teased.

"No!"

"Oh, they did, really, look it up," she said. The man tapped the screen, showing the day's work in Radu's laboratory. She pointed out the small group.

"Dammit, you're right. How did they get into the system?"

"Beats me, but I'd like it to stop."

"You and me both, this is bad news for me," he said. Radu started to hum, then whistle. The man worked to find the gap in security, but slowly fell asleep.

She looked out the door once, hearing the area was indeed deserted. Her hum turned into a soft song and at ease, she sat in one of the empty chairs to pull up the recordings of her latest activities.

Songs and the words in them were merely information, and computers principally were about information too. Messing up the memory of a computer was more complicated than a living mind, simply because computers were so simplistic in comparison. They had no emotions, no center of broca or anything else that her magic recognized.

Still, information _was_ information. Everything ran down to little codes of electrons, and she had all the time to play with them.

First, anything suspicious she might have done laterly was retconned. Then, the files on the DNA of Michal Amagi were curiously lost a short time later, and they would resurface with a mildly different content later.

**· · · · · · ·**


	20. Maternity

**· · · · · · ·**

Lucia slapped her tail on the rough floor before her throne and waited. A short half hour ago, Rina had arrived with Masahiro and a small supply of luggage, and they had gone to get him settled. Masahiro had looked frustrated and Rina stiff and uneasy. Lucia would have asked what was wrong, but she had still to wait for Hanon to give the signal for return.

Now, Hanon appeared with Nagisa, who in turn brought along a woman, two children and a small flock of luggage, carried by blue mermaids. Lucia, confronted with the idea someone might pass up True Love and move on, could only stare. She had heard of it, off course, but that had been a far away reality. Hanon's forced smile hid seemed to confirm it and Lucia's heart broke for her.

"Daddy, that's the goddess, right?" one of the children happily said when she approached them. "She's got the white tail!"

"Eh, yeah, she is ... " Nagisa stammered while trying to bow, despite the baby in his arm and buoyancy causing him to float. The woman at his side looked even more shocked and scrambled to imitate Nagisa.

Lucia almost stopped them, but remembered something she had learned not so long ago : if people want to pay respect, don't stop them, it is rude. She wasn't sure it applied here, but she let it be. She was sure they would notice soon enough she wasn't all that formally inclined.

Hanon had kept a distance from Nagisa as she had grown up, as had Rina from Masahiro, due to her duties and how painful it was to know. They had broken up officially after high school, and tracking them down had been a pain. Both Hanon and Rina had resorted to asking help from their fanclub.

Lucia laid a hand on her shoulder and tried to think up something wise to say. She didn't know anything.

"Hello, Lucia. Any news of Seira yet?" Hanon asked with a voice to serious Lucia hardly recognized her.

"Nothing yet. Michel is probably ... ehm, still tracking those yokai."

Lying to her best friend felt horribly, devastatingly wrong. If only the truth wasn't more difficult, assuming it was indeed the truth.

_By the way, Hanon, we are brainwashed to be overly happy and peaceful when she would not be, just to keep us within bounds, and you could have been with Nagisa if only we had been able to think outside of the box and get you two a nice beach house.  
_

_Though, it's possible you wouldn't even be in love with Nagisa at all if said brainwashing field was gone. Oh, yeah, Seira's been kidnapped probably because she found out about that and she's with the organization that protects us._

_"_ So, what about all these people?" Lucia asked. _  
_

Hanon looked so dejected that she immediately regretted asking. "Nagisa's ex. One of them anyway. I would have been happy for him if he'd been happily married, but ..." She sniffled with gesturing at the children. "And he doesn't even feel so bad about having left behind his kids."

"Lucia, are _you_ alright?" Hanon asked. "You look like you've seen the abyss."

"No I'm not alright, I'm sick with worry," she blurted out.

"What about?" One of Nagisa's kids was tugging at her tail. Lucia curled over to gently detach the young boy.

"That hurts a bit, please don't," she said. Nagisa quickly picked up the child and profusely apologized. He looked uncertain and a little fearful for the split second she saw his face.

"It's okay, really. I know how kids are, I've raised one and another myself," Lucia said as cheerfully as she could muster, but it hurt her to see someone she once knew as an easygoing kid, a friend, albeit distant, be so apprehensive around her.

"Please make yourself at home and don't leave the castle, my magic here allows you to live," she continued, not knowing anything better to say. She realized a moment later just how threatening it came across. "Ehm, I have some duties to attend to."

"Come, I'll show you around," Hanon said, looking at the family with a smile that Lucia was sure was as fake as her own. She watched them disappear, then returned to her office, which had a stack of paperwork waiting, hopefully still protected by magic from being dissolved. She really needed to learn how to use a computer, at least those existed in waterproof variants already.

Masahiro and Nagisa, along with his presumed family would be safe here, just in case. Tabloids had already been leaking stories about both men and their once upon a time with the princesses; who knows how they found out?

She and her friends been on school photos, probably, or maybe something else? It wasn't much of a secret amongst mermaids _where_ the princesses had been during the last war, and those mermaids walked amidst humans now and gave interviews and wrote. There were even numerous claims of relationships with princesses. If the tabloids were to be believed Lucia and the other princesses had taken a new guy every week.

Lucia had found out about that around the same time she'd let it slip in front of a reporter that Licht Amagi was a friend and she was worried for her other friends on land. Truth be said, if there was one thing she was glad for right now, it was that Seira's disappearance gave her a good reason to cancel her tour. She didn't want to deal with one more obnoxious interviewer.

Sifting through the papers she had found awaiting her, she dismissed requests for interviews of anyone she didn't recognize as a government official, ripped apart a supposed fan letter that accused her of slacking off, and placed inquiries about her involvement in weather phenomena on a stack for later. Those she focussed on today were questions about the Indian Ocean.

Seira had been gone for three days and Sara had taken on administration of the orange ocean. She was at odds with the South Pacific Ocean and their miserable attempts at establishing a government. Coco was trying, but she was caught in the middle like a straw in a stream. A few times a day, Anayis sent some of her people over there to help out and subdue violence; the pink mermaids having once been Lucia's people, they were the most loyal to her.

Lucia startled when Rina appeared at her room. "Are you ready?"

"Huh?"

"You would teleport me to Venezuela for the meeting, remember?"

"Eh... remind me again?"

"I need to discuss our cooperation within the Protocol of the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region in regards to what that me and my mermaids present in controlling storms, as well as marine food supplies," Rina said evenly. Lucia already was lost at convention.

"Venezuela, you said?"

"Specifically, the sea mouth of the Manzanares river."

Oh, right. She had asked Hanon and Lina to personally picked up their exes cause they would have a better chance at convincing them to come along than strangers, but she hadn't taken their royal duties into account.

"Off course I will, sorry about having called you away. When will you be back?"

"No idea," Rina said with a sigh. "I'll be demonstrating how my magic works by cleaning the water in front of experts, so they'll have some idea of what I can do and how we can use it best, and that could drag in civil rights and those new shore laws and more. Who knows how long it will go on?"

"I'll open a gateway in the cradle for you, it should be done soon."

"Thank you .. and, Lucia? Hang on."

"It will be alright, I can't be tired," she said with a wide smile, knowing full well that Rina wasn't talking about that. But she was sure she would be alright anyway.

Masahiro appeared in the doorway and for a moment Lucia was afraid he might start bowing too, but all he did was a respectful nod. Rina turned back to him and they spoke quietly. Lucia was glad to see he was less apprehensive than the other humans; he must have known his mermaid ancestry was true the moment news broke. When he gave Rina a quick kiss before following the others, Lucia felt happy for Rina, and Rina was flustered a little. That meeting would either ruin her mood or go exceptionally well.

Once they were gone, Lucia pulled out a map and peered over it. This was the most embarrassing part of her powers ... she could by sheer willpower focus on any spot of the sea, but she still needed directions. Though, since this did not concerns subplanes of existence, it was quicker done than before.

She was still in the middle of creating the gateway when Nicola appeared at the door. Lucia had to remind herself not to rush things off, lest Rina land in the wrong place. After that, she approached her old 'big sister'.

"Hello, Nicola. Was there something you needed to talk about?"

"Yes, a group of Panthalassans was sent here. It appears they are susceptible to skin cancer at an alarming rate. We need to do something about that if we're going to have them as our bodyguards on land."

"What? How can we even know that, they've only been out for so long! Does cancer really develop that quickly?"

"Not with humans, but the Panthalassa Clan _isn't_ human, Lucia. They can be poisoned by their own blood and they've been at the bottom of the ocean for ten thousand years. They have no protection against the sun what so ever and most lack self health magic."

"Oh..."

"I've brought in a few doctors, I hope you don't mind I invoked your power to let them live underwater."

"Off course I don't mind."

Nicola led her to another room in the vast castle, right above the cradle. Here floated a field of translucent ovals, swinging in the tide and held by a corallike structure. The whole appeared much like a den of fish eggs, but inside were people. Specifically, the Panthalassans. Many were covered with crusts of darkened skin, others downright bleeding.

"I hadn't thought it would be this bad ..." Lucia whispered.

A doctor swam around clumsily, a mermaid at his side to help him around, and there were nurses as well. When Lucia was spotted, the nurses turned bowed the head, but went on quickly. The doctor on the other hand approached her.

"This is doctor Milenko, head of this mission. He works on behalf of Médecins Sans Frontières," Nicola said.

Lucia looked over the man, who seemed downright uncomfortable. Whether it was because he was underwater or facing a goddess she couldn't tell. She smiled kindly and reached out her hand for a handshake, not giving him a chance to bow.

"Hello, doctor Milenko. Could you please tell me about this all?"

The man took her hand so softly she barely felt it and he withdrew quickly. She wished he wouldn't be so afraid of her.

"Many of these people are suffering from skin cancer, particularly Basal-cell carcinoma ... " he said, gesturing at a nearby man covered in bleeding ulcers. "The symptoms are far more severe than with any ordinary human. To be honest, we have very little idea on how to stop the bleeding. We are used to treating people above the water, but it seems that worsens their condition."

"I could try heightening pressure a bit, since they are used to living at the bottom of the ocean," Lucia said, trying to remember the natural rules about that. "But even if I do that slowly so you can adapt too, it will mean that you'll have to wait a long time before you can go above the surface again. I may not be around whenever you need to go up quickly."

"I understand. Please do as you suggested. I am a doctor, I'm sure I can handle whatever time I need to be below here. My patients need it."

"Thank you."

"If I may ask, is it true what I heard about this barrier that held them, about it having divided them according to power levels?"

"Yes, it is."

"These people shows signs of defects that are indicative of inbreeding. Coupled with the isolation from sunlight, many suffer a form of extreme xeroderma pigmentosum. This is the inability of the body to repair damage caused by ultraviolet.

"Ultaviolet?"

"It's in sunlight."

"I definitely could try healing that," Lucia said.

"What do you mean with healing? Curing the wounds, or taking the cause of the weakness away?"

Lucia had to think this over. When she invoked healing magic, she didn't really feel what it did, unlike when she controlled the seas. People with wounds got better from it, but that was only what she could see.

"I don't know. I'll just have to try."

"Well, if you could wait a moment, I'd like to have some things in place for tests."

She gave him a skeptical look.

"Nothing unethical, I assure you. Just some skin samples."

"Alright, please do so."

She watched the man make preparations and direct people around. A few of the worst cases were chosen as test group, she declined that she leave some untreated for comparison.

"Lucia, you probably can't fix their physical make up. Even if you heal them, they will need to stay out of the sunlight. If the Panthalassans are to be our guards, something needs to change. These are just the worst cases."

"What if I give pigment production a kickstart? I can do that pretty easily, I learned it since mermaids already have a magical function for color change," she said, glad to finally have something to know about.

"Yes, I suppose that would help. It might not be a wise thing to do though. You haven't heard the stories going round about how there's only one brown skinned mermaid in existence?" said Nicola. "A genetic solution would be the best."

"I haven't heard anything about that ..." Though, Anayis was oddly quiet lately and didn't like to go on land.

The doctor overheard it and said, "Those stories are true? You can micromanage the human body?"

"Well, I haven't been at it that much, but there's someone who knows about it in great detail."

"Word has it that you've had someone go around treating people ... an angel?"

"Oh, yes, Michel ... how did you know?"

"Footage from Romania matches reports of a woman seen during the Panthalassa Ascension ascension event. The Internet was all over it before even the news stations."

"Oh, yes. He could probably help with this, but he isn't available right now, as I've sent him to search for the abducted princess, but once they are back I'll ask him about it and I'll be sure to learn."

" _He_?" the doctor said, barely suppressed a chuckle.

What was funny about that? Then she remembered there _was_ a female angel now.

"Please continue your work, there's someone I'd like to include in the healing." Lucia turned tail and swam off.

Michal was in a wide room, full of bubbles to prevent her sporadic bursts of energy causing her to harm herself against the walls. The wings on her back were fleshy pink and only partially feathered, while the other parts were fleshy strands and swellings. Michal's eyes were wide open and fixed on Lucia, but otherwise she didn't respond. Her hand twisted and stiffened interchangeably, as did her wings.

"Michal, I'm about to perform a healing. I'm not sure if it would help, but perhaps it might make you feel better?"

It sometimes happened she was non-vocal, so Lucia waited for a bit. Michal nodded eventually, much to Lucia's gladness. She called the bubbles to obey her will and had them carry her out of the room.

In the sick hall, she helped Michal lie down in one of the empty cocoons. The doctor had finished with his equipment and gave her a nod.

Lucia settled in the middle of the hall, never leaving her mermaid form, though she did manifest her staff to aid her otherwise atrocious song. After some thought, her choice fell to one of the lullabies she had found in the library, and so she sang.

Before her eyes, the injuries slowly restored. The doctor and his co workers watched in awe, and she saw them grow calm and serene along. The concern this was brainwashing them lingered in the back of her mind, but if she used it to heal, it could not be so bad right now, could it?

As she worried over this, the effect of her song lessened and she realized it depended on her own mood. This gave her a little hope ... if she really wanted the song to not have side effects, perhaps she could will it away.

And then her phone rang. Lucia spun the song into a premature completion, then went outside to take the call.

"Lucia, a disaster!" Hippo screamed on the other end.

Then and there, Lucia resigned to the inability for anything to go right, and said, "Hippo, calm down? What disaster?"

"Sara and Gackto invaded the Arabian Sea."

Lucia's felt ready to start crying, but instead forced her eyes to stay neutral and whispered, "Why?"

"There have been a lot of submarines there and very little cooperation with the shores. We told you this yesterday, Lucia."

"I mean, why _now_? And they're already aligned to us, how can they invade our own kingdom?"

"I don't get much of it either, but you better go visit Sara. She used one of the dream circuits you installed to the Indian Ocean's capital and bent it towards the Arabian Sea, you should have no trouble finding her."

**· · · · · · ·**

Sara was high in the sky, perched on a single step of a dream corridor and singing about a return to the sea. Lucia aimed her personal stairway right aside of her and practically screamed, "What are you doing?"

"Seira's been doing this more often, so I'm not as good with this. I found that manifesting a single step saves a lot of energy and concentration," Sara said casually, flipping her hair back.

"No, I meant the invasion!"

"Reports of any invasion have been greatly exaggerated, my dear Aqua Regina." She pointed inland. The desert land stretched out wide around a little dot that was the burning remnant of a few submarines.

Lucia blinked and tried to wrap her mind around that.

Submarines.

In the desert.

"Sara? Did you do that?"

"There's an interesting suction effect at work when water is forced into a dream stairway. I figured out how to get those invaders in there and just dropped them a little further."

"But now all those people inside are dead...! Right? You can't just throw submarines around!"

"I'd have frozen them if I could, but I'm sure that would have ended the same way. Maria didn't feel like cooperating anyway."

"How could you? You murdered them!"

Sara gave Lucia an indignant look. "You do realize I had a lot more people murdered when trying to conquer the ocean, right? I may not have been directly involved, but it was me who enabled Gackto. And now you're surprised that I killed a few who did a lot more wrong than any citizens of yours?"

"What did they do wrong then?"

"They were shooting missiles at my people!"

"We told them to stay away from the shores, why would they be here?"

"You didn't tell the separatists. Try as they may deny it, they are still orange mermaids. When I realized they were in trouble, I had to help them out."

"You could have asked me for help," Lucia said, preparing to teleport over there and look for survivors. However, Sara grabbed her hand and pulled her down, forcing her to sit.

"Don't go near there, it's a nuclear submarine. You'll need a special trick to interact with that place from a dream circuit without getting affected by the radiation, and I'm not telling you how until you hear me out."

"But this could start a war! I need to go see whether I can help any people, or —"

Sara stood up and looked down on Lucia. "The war started the moment the organization abducted my daughter."

"How-how do you know that?"

"Michal grew wings. It's not difficult to guess something went wrong."

"That doesn't mean that ... ehm ... well ..."

"Lucia, dear, how did Gackto slap some sense into Kaito again, eleven years ago?"

"He ... _oh_."

Crap. If Gackto had possessed Michal like he had once done to Licht, that probably meant he could read Michal's mind. Right now, Gackto and Sara probably knew more than she herself.

Yet they didn't appear to know about the global song brainwashing. Lucia wasn't sure why that was. Perhaps they had only looked at the memories surrounding Michel's rescue attempt, or perhaps it was too much. If Sara knew, she wouldn't be this calm, would she?

"But how is something that drastic," Lucia said, nodding at the submarines, "going to change anything?"

"We're sending the organization a message," Sara said with a smirk. "That we are not to be messed with. We won't let them reach into the seven seas and we _will_ bring Seira back. Michel too, and that naga. Anyone who is part of our family."

Sara handed Lucia a telescope. Lucia took it with some hesitation and looked through it.

Around the wreckage were a a number of Panthalassans, wrapped entirely in cloth against the sun, and a few browned, orange haired women. All of them walked in an expanded dream circuit and they were salvaging parts of the submarine wreckage. Surrounding them was by a small lake rapidly vaporizing in the heat.

"They're not looking for survivors, are they?"

"We're going to see what happens when we put our song into something other than microphones. According to Michal and Michel, the Black Beauty Sisters achieve some _very_ interesting things this way."

"But they had people to help them," Lucia said desperately. It was more an attempt to soothe her own fears at seeing Sara weaponize mermaid song than actually believing it.

Sara reached aside of her and manifested a laptop somehow, flipping it open while humming. After a few seconds, she turned it to Lucia. A brightly colored web page was displayed, very orange and with Sara's face in the banner. "As do I."

"A fanclub?"

"A group of savvy Internet users who took a liking to my more hands on approach. The middle east isn't all that popular, you see. I don't care for what happens on land, but they seem happy if I take out military crafts here. Now, please excuse me, I have a dream circuit to uphold and I'm certain you don't want even more people to die."

Sara shut down and stored the laptop, then continued her song. Water rose around her in three pillars, which soon started circling towards the open terrain, replenishing the water magic of the salvage process.

"At least hand the bodies to whatever government they were aligned to," Lucia said, dejected.

Sara stopped her song mid sentence. "Off course, I have no wish to make things more difficult for you," she said in a kind tone.

The worst part was that she seemed to mean that. Lucia returned home with the realization of just how flimsy the concept of friend and enemy was.

She had neither army nor government to deal with these kinds of things, and no answer to Sara taking custody of the orange kingdom. In fact, Sara did have a point. If humans indeed were going to war with the oceans, they had a massive amount of technology that most of the mermaids stood no chance against. Death might be unavoidable, but who was she to decide who got to die?

Once humans figured out how to easily manufactured underwater air breathing, pressure control and temperature management, her kingdoms would be lost. The humans would be the attackers, and they had a right to defend themselves ... but it wasn't so simple. Lucia herself had, if by accident, caused great damage to the realm of the humans.

This life was becoming more complicated than she could handle, and she had only one idea on how to truly change it.

**· · · · · · ·**


	21. Oxytocin

**· · · · · · ·**

Systematically, Lucia worked through the stack of papers. It was like every country in the world wanted something from her, and this was just the most important stuff pertaining to India. Poor Hippo was overworked in sorting the incoming mail, him being one of the very few in her service who could read human writing.

Sign this treaty, deal with the unexpected backfiring of another agreement ... more requests for interviews.

Kaito embraced her from behind. "Hello, Lucia."

There was this mild teasing tone that indicated what kind of a free time he wanted. Any inclination to go along with it was washed away by the knowledge that that in the mean time, things might just get out of hand even more. What if another disaster happened and she wasn't around?

"Not now, Kaito," she said softly. "I'm sorry, but I have work to do."

"I'm here for you," he said with a confidence Lucia could not match. "You're strong, I know you can pull it off."

For some reason, this annoyed her. What did being there for someone actually mean? What did strength have to do with any of this? She glared at the paperwork and all the unseen problems they represented and for once, she didn't feel peaceful and forgiving at all.

"No Kaito, you're not here for me." She unhooked his arms and turned around. "You're there for a pretty princess that needs protecting from evil villains. I'm not that girl anymore, I'm a goddess without a clue on politics. I _don't need_ a warrior prince to shield me, I _need_ a supporter and advisor to speak with. That's not you."

She could hardly believe how cold she sounded, yet what she said was the truth. There was a tug to apologize, to get back that happy feeling that she now saw so casually destroyed in Kaito's eyes. He took a step back and said nothing for a moment. The entire time, her eyes never left him.

"Lucia, did something happen?"

"Off course. Years happened where you tried to shield me from the problems that would come if the Panthalassa Clan might try to drop the masquerade. You never actually talked to me about it, you just said we should leave them because it was too dangerous. You never looked for other options, and all I had to believe in was the Aqua Regina's words that they'd be in a _peaceful sleep_. As if that were true ... if there was anything like that, they would not have been so desperate to get out!"

She saw his expression harden, confirming what she had suspected for a long time. Kaito didn't give a dime for his own people. What he went on to say only confirmed it.

"The Panthalassa Clan has a rotten core that needs to be contained. Doesn't the conflict in the Arabian Sea prove that yet again?"

She so badly wanted them to agree, but no. It wasn't this simple.

Mermaids were affected by that love field, but the Panthalassan Clan wasn't, or at least less. That was why the Aqua Regina had refused to let Clan go free in both events where she sealed them. No control. It had been Kaito's choice entirely to ignore them, and leaving them to Gackto, who in turn listened to Sara.

All of this, the very thought that everything in the world was so wrong because someone had decided mermaids should be in a certain stunted way, she couldn't handle it. Yet raw anger was not something Lucia frequently felt, let alone knew how to express. The currents around the castle swept harder, a storm threatened to brew, but she knew it might someone who did not deserve it, so the anger stayed within her.

"Lucia?"

"It proves nothing. That rotten core, do you have proof of it? Is it some sort of gene? You've gone to school, you should have learned about things like civil rights and genes."

"You went to school too," he said. "What are you getting at?"

"I can barely write and it was only one year before I became Aqua Regina and had no more time for it! You've been to school from age six onward and completed your studies. You were _good_ at it, unlike me. So how could you live with it? Knowing it wasn't alright they were locked up down there?"

He averted his face. "It's not that simple, Lucia. You see what dropping the masquerade resulted in. Maybe it's not genes, but their culture—"

"That we created by keeping them down there! Tell me in honesty, some other method to set them free would not have worked? You didn't even try, Kaito. Sure, it would have been difficult, but that's what we as rulers are for, to make those things easier for the people we serve."

"Lucia! I did try! How do you think I found out what their plans were?"

"That's not trying, Kaito. To try would have meant to actually let something happen. Like I did, even if it was the wrong way. If you had been there for me not as a protector, but as an advisor, then I would have talked to you on that day I went to rise the waters at shore."

"You're blaming me?" he asked, incredulous but also a bit angry.

"Yes! I'm blaming you for not doing your duty as a Panthalassan Prince!" she shouted. Then softer, she added, "I'm also blaming myself for not having done more to understand the world. I ... I wanted it to be so simple. Every problem sung away."

Kaito sighed, a few bubbles escaping his mouth. He swam away from behind her desk, sank down on one of chairs folding his hands before his face and closing his eyes.

Lucia sat back and waited, she wasn't sure for what. Hopefully, he would have an idea, because she wasn't getting any.

"What are we going to do, then? You do have a point, we haven't been doing enough and you may be right, I haven't even been trying to be the prince of my people. Seira spent the last decade dealing with her torn kingdom, she probably has more knowledge of government than either of us."

Oh, right. Kaito perhaps was smarter than her and better at school, but he didn't have any political experience either. But it seemed he had relented. Whether he actually understood the Panthalassans weren't inherently intent on causing problems — he was one himself, he should know — that was left to be seen, but if she could just get him to move ...

"You can start by no longer turning your back on your people. Use your powers and heritage to lead them in the right direction. Gackto listens to Sara, they need someone who leads them down a more peaceful flow."

"I don't know, Lucia. It could be too late to get them under my rule."

He brow dropped and the she reached out to grab her staff. When she stood up, he did so as well, but he didn't get closer again. Uncertainty was all over him, almost as if he did not recognize her. Lucia pushed back how unpleasant she found that and said, "I have some cameras that I need to smile to. It's the only thing I can do right, make people love me. I'll be starting a peace fund or something, once I find some people willing to talk with me. If you are not going to go speak with your people or keep your brother in check, at least you could look through my paperwork and simplify them for me."

She walked past him, but just when she was out the door, Kaito spun around and swam after her. "Lucia, I ... I never meant to keep you down. Please believe me, I just didn't want there to be peace for us."

"And I want peace for everyone else." She bent forward and kissed him on the cheek, then she turned away. Kaito didn't follow her. Through the waters, she noticed his power, telling her he had moved into the office.

It wasn't what she wanted. If she had that, he would have his arms around her and they wouldn't need to worry about anything but the weather.

What she needed was something else, though. As an immortal goddess, she would outlive him, so she might just as well learn her limits and ability. Some day, she would have to learn to be without Kaito altogether, and all of her friends would move on to the next world.

Why did it have to be that way? If there was a goddess of the sea, shouldn't someone rule the land? If there ever had been a god of the skies, then it probably had been the emperor whose fossil she had seen destroyed.

She was the only goddess on this world, not withstanding creatures that were called gods without possessing the powers or immortality. A cold settled over her when she wondered what had happened to the other gods.

Was Earth going to tire of her and the humans as well? Maybe she would end up like the old emperor as well, a soul trapped in a fossil with no afterlife and no escape. The former Aqua Regina herself had been trapped in a similar half-life, unable to reach the other world or regain life.

That appeared to be the only way for a god to die : to run out of energy and become a relic.

In a way she was alone already, but she wasn't going to accept that. Once Kaito had pushed her away due to his own loneliness. She now understood what he spoke of, but that also meant she was not going to put up with it in herself.

It was just a little odd that in order to gain someone who truly stood at her side, she had to push him away.

**· · · · · · ·**

Radu tapped her pen on the desk and looked at the orange princess behind the glass, then at her friends at this side. Merron often wiped imaginary strands from her face, while Richard was on his fifth cup of coffee. You'd think they had a taxing week, but in reality, they had just spent the day listening to song in various volumes.

Richard was at best indifferent to bubbly J-Pop and Merron was downright antagonistic, but off course, the real reason of their stress was auditory overload.

"For goodness sake, my taste buds. Sugar poisoning ... Even ancient magical creatures cut off from human culture somehow manage to be weea—"

"Merron, you do realize she's not really singing in Japanese, right?" Radu said, just because the response would be fun.

"Off course I know! But it gets translated to us as Japanese for some reason and they are clearly catering to the Kawaiiko culture! Look at all those frills!"

Undisturbed, a Seira who believed she was on tour kept performing happily. Before her was a large room with people who believed they were visiting a private concert.

They were on their seventh test audience now, having already gone through school kids, politicians, random folks off the streets, convicted criminals, desperate housewives and bureaucrats. All of them were wired up to a device that scanned their brain; for this purpose they had been given memories of chairs always looking like this, preventing them from questioning it.

The majority of this stuff was in the hands of the neurology team, but Merron's magic team was called in today due to the unusual fact they were researching mind altering magic.

The previous six test audiences had given report of bliss and scans indicated activation of pleasure centers in the brain. The severity of the effect was directly related to personality and previous neurological state. People already happy were more easily influenced, while those with an aggressive personality took longer. People suffering a purely physical state that caused sorrow, like manic depression, were easily given a better mood, while those whose sorrow was influenced by a tragic event took more time.

All in all, mermaid song in its nice mode appeared to simply be a magical anti depression pill and potentially disproved the theory Seira and Michel had hatched, but that was what science for : to keep going till all angles had been covered.

Their first clue was that being exposed to mermaid song made humans more able to perceive the earth magnetic field using the small magnetite deposit between the eyes. The magic field of the planet was closely linked to it, and that meant that while there might just be something more complex at work.

Mermaid neurology was surprisingly similar to that of humans. Aside of such functions as pressure resistance and lack of menstruation and testosterone, they had all the chemicals that humans had ... with some key differences in levels. Greater release of dopamine allowed them to generally be happier, and then there were the extraordinary presence of Oxytocin.

Oxytocin was involved in forming bonds, increasing trust, reducing fear, and when administered to the right spots it could impair memory and learning. A nation of loving mermaids who never developed technology, kept the same culture with uniform rigidity, who were blindly trusting of their goddess and never get around to thinking about the injustice of her actions?

The neurology team checked for Oxytocin abnormalities early on and their findings were startling. The mechanism behind it appeared to be magical, but the effect was very much organic and seemed steered precisely to counter the development of mermaids. The orange princess displayed lower levels of this, for some reason. Either exposure to the earring or her unusual birthing situation were suspect. She regularly used the so called dream circuits to travel, which might cut her off as well.

Now the seventh test audience was returned home and Seira, yet again, was placed to sleep with gas, Radu's team finally got to their part. Merron immediately called for the Black Beauty Sisters, which at once turned the other team apprehensive. Radu was fairly certain this was because the two were very firm about letting nobody figure out their brains, and the only reason they worked for the organization was that they needed certain sea magic to become people. Pure mercenaries that they couldn't understand, it made most scientists uneasy or irritated.

They let themselves be awaited. During this time, they erased Seira's memory of the previous performance, brought her to another room of the studio set and implanted a slightly altered version of the memory set that had her sing. It wasn't hard, the poor woman loved to sing.

They had her hooked up to a brain monitor through the headset she wore, and now she lacked the earring — she reached for it every time they reset her — the effect of the sea's magic became more apparent on her.

Across the past few hours, the actor playing either a director, assistant or whatever they needed had asked her some innocuoous questions, playing a man concerned about the state of the world. Every time, this would include a question about the Panthalassans. The longer she was exposed to the hypothetical field, the more her answers changed.

"It was high time, Lucia had already wanted to do it years ago."

"Well, Kaito did have a good point about the chaos it caused."

"Perhaps we should have gotten a few experts first. Lucia really ... I don't want to badmouth her, but it was a poor choice. She did mean well."

"She should have listened to Kaito. The time wasn't right, for none of this. I don't want to badmouth her, but ... I'm not sure ... she is right, yet ..."

"The Panthalassans may not be dangerous as individuals, but as a whole, we have to be careful."

"I don't understand how Lucia could doubt the Aqua Regina's judgment, she has always been there for us."

Radu started getting depressed from hearing it, so she turned pointlessly adjust the barrier that kept them from being influenced, ever time a new answer arrived. She had to resist the temptation to argue about the ethics of this all, it would raise too much fuss in her direction.

"Where were you?" an irritated Richard said when Mimi and Sheshe finally stepped into their room.

"Oh, we met with Izul, Eriru and Maria and decided to tell some animal rights organizations that fish are sapient and could potentially be turned into people. You should've seen their faces! They're now starting a campaign to demand vegetarianism world wide."

"But not all fish are sapient," Radu said. "The mermaids will be quick enough to tell them that.

"Those in touch with magic become so, and there's plenty of little fish who have swam through a mermaid castle. Every net hauled out of the ocean could contain a potential person. Isn't it fun to get them riled up over that?"

"There's a war brewing over at the Indian Ocean, and you two think it's a good time to start even more trouble, by working with servants of that Gackto figure no less?"

Mimi clapped her hands together. "Yes, it's a _wonderful_ time!"

"As if they need more problems."

"Are we here to argue about this or to do some fancy experiment?"

"Actually, we just need a fresh recording of your song to see how it interacts with Seira's song. We don't have any data yet on this first hand."

Sheshe and Mimi both rolled their eyes. "Fine, whatever."

Sheshe laid her hand around Mimi's waist and pulled her into the studio. It was on the set rather than one of the normal studios, separated from Seira off course, on Merron's demand. She promised the result would be interesting.

" _Voice in the dark, Folia of the dark ..._ "

As they performed, Merron started muttering along.

" _Harmony is nothing but an illusion, a deception without a mirror reflection. If it would get entangled in thread of waves, it would come to an ebb tide. Turn the charm inside hearts into a wicked aphrodisiac, and lead astray the weak people_ ... holy crap, they're describing the effect."

Radu yawned. "Indeed," she said with feigned disinterest, knowing full well this would provoke Merron to rant. Things went quicker than way than when Merron decided to play stuck up scientist who refused to talk to assistants.

"Think about it. If the harmony of the seas is the result of an ongoing mindwipe, it's an illusion because it is not founded on a solid base. No mirror reflection because it cannot exist within those not exposed to the magic, unlike _actual_ altruism, which affects those around it," she said. "It will reach ebb tide if it gets entangled in the thread of waves. Waves don't have threads, do they? Or should we assume the sea is part of an intricate weaving, rather than free?"

Mark of the neurology team tapped the window and signaled Mimi and Sheshe to stop. When they came out, he asked, "Ladies, where do these lyrics come from, did you make them up yourself?"

"I don't know. They just come naturally to us," Sheshe said with a shrug.

"Given those lyrics, can you actually turn people _against_ one another with your song?"

"I wish. We can knock out people with it, blow up a building if we really try, but if we could have just sown discord amongst the mermaids, we would have won back then!"

"But mermaids can bring out the best in people through their song if those people are receptive to it, and those people tend to _stay_ on their side."

"Those people already were looking for redemption anyway. Heck, Michel already _had_ redeemed himself, he was just mind controlled by Fuku at the time. So what?"

"How much did you catch of the conversation we intercepted, of Michel and Seira?"

"Stuff about oceanwide brainwashing," Mimi said with a shrug. "Pretty sure we're immune to this happiness field, so we didn't really care. Why do you?"

"This hypothetical 'happiness field' makes mermaids trusting without warrant, forgiving those who have no remorse if that fits the day's theme, unable to leave the butterfly stage of love and unable to question the morality and judgment of their god," Merron said casually. "We have reason to believe it was steered, possibly by the former sea goddess, and what is made, _that can be controlled by us_."

"Ooh, I see why you want it. I'm with you people there," Sheshe said.

"Sister Shehse, imagine if we could shoot people to make them trust us. Wouldn't that be interesting?"

"Don't count on it, ladies. From what we gather, the song just makes people perceptible to it, it doesn't _cause_ it," Richard said.

"Could be possible test this?" Merron wondered aloud. "Where can we get a goody-two-shoes suspecible to the effect and see how well they get hooked on it and give us inside information? Our unknowing test groups can't exactly be interrogated easily."

And they shouldn't need to interrogate, Radu realized at once. That was not to mention they already had a good idea on how the song interacted with personalities. The experiment was still ongoing.

Casting a quick look over at the neurology team, she subtly put a finger before her mouth, concealed as a thinking pose. They understood and played along.

Richard shrugged and pulled at a questionable magazine, starting to flip through it demonstratively.

"Being horny doesn't appear to be a big moral failing, Richard. The sea goddess was doing it with her boyfriend when she was like, thirteen and unmarried. She let it slip herself on that interview a few weeks ago," Merron said.

"I also cheat taxes and have employed company means on the stock market. You know why you yourself won't do it. Why not ask Radu, she could use a little more corruption."

"More? Now do I?" said Radu, chewing on a long fingernail that she held up from a limp wrist, trying her best to appear anything but innocent.

Merron shook her head and looked back at the computer screen. "I am head researcher, I cannot do it, and Radu ... do we really want to know?"

Radu smiled slyly. "I suppose we will have to find a goody two shoes elsewhere."

"If you don't need us, we'll be going," Sheshe said.

Merron gestured at the door and sipped her coffee. The two were out in no time.

When they were gone, she abruptly put down her coffee and took her computer out of standby, starting to load something.

"Perfect," she muttered after a few seconds.

Radu couldn't help but be curious, so she stood up.

"Care to share what this was all about," Mark asked. He and his team gathered around Merron's computer.

"Our princess was still singing the entire time they were here. I've played it at a low frequency through the computer and it didn't hurt them. In fact, they were remarkably cooperative despite not getting _anything_ out of it," Merron said. "Normally, they would have asked for a reward for this service and cracked an insult about our jobs."

Richard also came to stand aside of Merron, muttering, "If even they are affected positively by it when they're not set to consider it 'enemy' and it works at such a low frequency ... "

"The possibilities aren't endless," Merron said with a deeply satisfied voice. "But well within the scope of many applications that would improve our organization."

"We should get our hands on one of those people that turned on Licht Amagi and see whether we can truly alter their memories."

Radu had been here for a few years, but this was the first time she truly worried for the outcome of a research project, sans Michel off course, but that was a case of the research itself being the problem.

If they could manipulate emotions, they could truly alter memories without the risk of a snap back or recall. Currently, they used the Sea Staff to steal and replace, but even an ancient item like that couldn't truly alter a the soul. It wasn't made for that.

Merron and Mark agreed they would obtain one of that mob, as well as a full blooded Panthalassan. Licht Amagi's orchestra trick had given a good reason to assume the Panthalassans were immune to the effect.

Meanwhile, Radu considered the risk of sending out a message.

**· · · · · · ·**


	22. Akrasia

**· · · · · · ·**

Obtaining a Panthalassan was all too simple. As there were no records or even head counts, smuggling away one Panthalassan was as easy as having them get lost in a city.

A brain monitor was stealthily applied, and memories of the short period of exposure were extracted, then processed by one of their own people.

Much to their surprise, a Panthalassan brain did react to the magic of the music. Their limbic system, responsible for processing emotions and memory, responded as any ordinary human did. _Unlike_ with normal humans or mermaids, the response did not seem to impair their ability to reason and there was no abnormal release of oxytocin going to wonky places.

In other words, there were two potential ways to avoid the field. A so far unidentified biological factor, and the presence of magic that belonged to an immune species. The field was always active, but exposure to the songs made one perceptive to it.

So, they had their test subject believe they were modeling, brought in Michel's gold and again ran their checks. Now, the process was canceled out entirely. The Panthalassan woman still mildly enjoyed the mermaid music, which they played with the excuse of the photographer being a fan. It just didn't do anything anymore.

After all was rounded up, the woman's mind cleared out and she was returned to the surface, Merron saw off the neurology team without making a move to leave herself. She had that devious look on her face that often gave Radu reason to worry.

When she returned to the room, she announced to her team, "We're going to see what happens when we cut off the princess herself."

"Hold it!" Radu stood up abruptly. "We don't know what kind of a person Seira is! The memory reading system tells us little more about her identity than those bugs we put in rooms."

Merron raised her eyebrows as she sat behind her computer. "And?"

"All understanding we have of Seira if filtered not just by the hosts we use to read memories, but also by Seira's own perception while dominated by that field. When Sara rejected the effect she accidentally destroyed her kingdom, and afterwards went on a deliberate world destruction motif because she believed the world to be unfair. That's a rather odd switch, don't you think? She must have, at some level, realized what was happening," Radu said.

"So what?" Richard muttered irritably. "All that matters to us is that we somehow get a hold of that field and duplicate it to our advantage. There are no seas to manipulate here and if anything goes wrong, we have nets."

"Richard has a point," Merron said. "Also, we have tabs on Coco. She is not turning destructive. I find it more reasonable that you're just being a little too affected by that angel's violence and are now afraid of everything." She gave Radu a look of finality, then turned to their assistants to get them ready.

"So, how do you plan on cutting her off?" Radu asked. "Mermaids are a source of sea magic in and off themselves, the effect might just use them as anchors."

Merron smiled. "That too is a good point. However, what is the anchor of a mermaid to this world?" She snapped her fingers as she typed a few things on her computer screen. On it was a message that read, amongst other things :

_Permission to experiment on pearl of the orange princess granted._

**· · · · · · ·**

Seira felt exhausted, so it was no surprise she had fallen asleep. One of the studio assistants woke her up and offered her a refresher, which she declined. Soda made mermaids drunk, and it was better not to take any chances.

Stretching out, she briskly walked into the studio's recording room. The idea of releasing a solo album wasn't entirely to her liking, she would have preferred all seven princess to be gathered, but she understood they just didn't have the time. Hopefully, at least Lucia could pop in for one song later in the week. Until then, this was a good publicity stunt.

It was a fairly ordinary studio, for as far as she could tell, though the large mirror to the right was distracting. The director a nice man who did his best to make her feel at ease when he noticed she was nervous. She assured him she was alright, but he had a point ... she wasn't just nervous, she felt ... almost terrified, but for no reason. Probably a nightmare that she couldn't remember.

She looked past the microphone to the small room behind the glass. They motioned for her to put on the headphones, and while she was positive she wouldn't need them to avoid distraction, she put them on. Just cause she was curious whether they'd be retained when she went to idol form.

No surprise, they vanished while her hair grew longer and her microphone manifested. The long dress of her idol form glowed into existence, softly falling to the floor with a pleasant rustle. Feeling the power of the ocean let her feel a little more certain.

"Ready, princess Seira?" the director asked.

"Yes," she said, and at that moment she noticed something odd. Where was the earring Michel had given her? Not on her ear, she hadn't noticed it when putting on the equipment ... She wrecked her brain, but couldn't figure out why she would would have left it in the hotel. Hopefully she had not just it.

Oh well, she would think about that after she was done with work.

"Ready," she said.

What was she supposed to sing again? A memory flitted in and the first lyrics of Birth Of Love came to mind. To her surprise, music started playing along. When had that been composed ... oh, right, a few days ago ... she really needed some peaceful sleep.

On cue, the magic within her kickstarted her song at the appropriate rhythm, and she sang.

_For the sake of this dream, if you can lend me your strength, I want to be born._

She had not even reached the end of the first verse when something went wrong. She started losing the lyrics, as if forgetting them altogether. She remembered them, but they weren't ... naturally anymore. The innate skill that was granted by the song magic was missing and she sounded like an amateur confronted with a song they had never practiced.

Her voice faltered and she stopped singing entirely. The director stood with a concerned look on his face and the other people in the room looked confused.

"Princess Seira, would you like to take a break?" the director asked.

He didn't really look concerned, actually, just curious. Not the same thing, her own mind noted with a curiously critical tone.

She looked down at the microphone in her hands and noticed it looked very childish. Holding open her hand, she let it drop to the ground.

An intense awareness of herself, here and now and then the next second settled over her. The distance of the ocean was the first she realized, the tug of her magic to return there ...

Instinctively she reached to the necklace that held her pearl, but it was too light. The first fragment of fear caught her and she took it off her neck, opening it up only to find it empty.

Yet she was alive.

She frowned, looked up at the control room ... those humans were too calm.

"Princess, is everything alright?"

No, everything wasn't alright. Seira realized that she would not be here, if everything was alright. She would be in her kingdom to restore it, not in some studio to appease the human population.

If everything was alright, she would not be ...

"I want to understand ..." she whispered.

The humans in the control room kept observing.

Behind them, the building faded into the deep black of a sea that was not really there.

All through the planet was a network of life, divided yet one.

An endless mass of black mermaids, washing out into monstrous creatures from the past.

Orange pearls on their collarbones, embedded in their flesh ... Long fingers without nails tugged at invisible strings. They sang in high chirps and wails, wordless yet full of knowledge.

Questions, to be specific. Why, how, what, will, you, who are you?

_Snap_.

All of them, all mermaids were just pawns in the grand game of this planet.

Earth who had destroyed the Ancients on a whim, Earth that let the humans strive and destroy the ecosystem, Earth that kept the mermaids complacent lovestruck fools.

Violently her memories were torn back in place and she knew again where she was, deep below the earth in the hands of people waiting to domesticate the magic that held the mermaid world in its grip. She remembered herself, remembered her progressive change of opinion on the Panthalassa Clan, could guess what they had been testing.

It was a tool. _She_ was a tool, whether it be for the earth or for the humans.

She tried to keep a hold on herself, figure out what to do, be balanced for her people, but ... something was gone. No solid safety, no trust, no hope, all cut down by the realization of how her life was built on nonsense. The entire system of mermaid government, their culture or lack thereof, their world, ... a fairytale incarnate.

And why did she even fall for Michel?

They were like broken branches that only stood upright by leaning against one another, tied together by the string of magical infatuation. She used him to have some escape from her hectic, passionless life and he just happened to come in a shape she found attractive. He probably saw her as some avatar of his redemption.

And Lucia ... a miserable goddess who made terrible mistakes despite not even being affected by the brainwashing anymore. Seira no longer wanted to be like her, wanted to take back calling her a good princess and rage at her for her errors, get her to understand she needed to stop playing princess when she wasn't.

This must have been what had happened to Sara. Her destruction of the orange kingdom, while no less horrible, was far more understandable to her now.

Mermaids were useless. Their society was useless. Their magic was useless. What purpose did embodying love mean if they weren't allowed to interact with humans and the one other sapient subsea nation had been locked up for thousands of years in solitude, being denied the chance for love for no good reason?

Everyone who wasn't a mermaid could rot, apparently. Ugly humans out to destroy nature? No, don't mingle with them, so says the magic. Imperfect Panthalassans that get poisoned by their own blood if too weak? Yeah, let's leave them down there, so says the goddess. And just for flavor, let's make you monogender mermaids all heterosexual with a desire for finding romantic love. See? Now it's even, since mermaids can't have _all_ forms of love. Fair!

No.

Her costume turned black and she screamed, pouring all her force into her voice. The glass walls started to crack, a mirror aside of her shattered to reveal a room full of strangers.

At the same moment, the door burst open.

Cloaked strangers flooded in, carrying a net between them. Before Seira could respond, they had thrown it onto her. The net contracted, forcing her out of her human form and into mermaid shape. Her tail was so black the equally black net was barely visible against it, curling around it and up her torso. It suffocated her power and choked out her voice till she could barely make a sound.

The humans secured the net around her with some unknown magic, then backed off. One of them called for a carrier to bring her out. She said nothing as she glared up at them, knowing full well who there were now.

"What the heck just happened?" someone in the hidden mirror room shouted.

"Don't ask me! It wasn't even completely done, she started rejecting the effect on her own!"

Two of them moved to pick her up, but Seira slapped them away.

"Traitors," she snapped, but the power of the net tore it down to only a harsh whisper. "We trusted you."

"Is she supposed to know who we are?"

"Nope."

"How did she get her memories back?"

"Back off, we'll fix that in no time." One of the people in the room behind the fake mirror said. "I am rather curious anyway what would happen if she forgets everything that might have made her lose faith."

The humans stepped back, close to the walls of the small recording room. Seira still saw an overlay of a dark world, but now the spectres of the orange mermaids were closing in, passing through the fading walls and the humans. Hands reached out to her, hands larger than her own and less human. The shrill voices told her to notice it, a subtle sensation. Seira became aware of a new power ... no, not new. She had felt it every time the organization had previously messed with her mind.

It was the magic they used to steal memories.

Seira was angry already, now she became furious.

Sooner or later, they were going to brainwash her and send her back with a story that would let them keep Michel here without ever being searched, till they decided to destroy his soul. It would fit the myth arc perfectly, she would go on with remembrance of his tragedy, become stronger ...

No. No, she didn't want this. Screw being _in_ love, Michel was still someone she cared for. Screw admiring Lucia as a goddess, she didn't deserve to be a pawn no matter what. Nobody deserved that and she had to change that. Sara had wanted to destroy the world. Now Seira wanted to do this as well, but it was an entirely different part that she wanted to destroy. It was the fate that turned the world to chaos.

She let the ocean's call slip away, and at that moment the ancestors approached in. The thousand invisible hands help her reach out to the source of that power, to the point of almost seeing it. A staff with a sphere at its top, lines by twisted fins.

_Come with us and you will no longer be helpless._

There was no water to manipulate here, this was the domain of the sky only. The net prevented her from manifesting any of her powers, but the power was still within her and responded to this staff. Her ancestors guided her to use the staff as a channel and pour her power through it.

Her command echoed through the vast building to seek an anchor, and it found it. There were a few creatures aligned to the waters, amongst which someone familiar. Mahahanu was here. It was his voice that returned to her most strongly, amongst the others that responded.

She took control of the opening and gave Mahahanu the power he needed. There was a scream through the city, heard only in the dream layer.

**· · · · · · ·**

They had driven it into another prison, a stronger one this time, without transparent walls. It had torn at the walls anyway until it bled and tired. Now, lethargy had taken over and it didn't try to get out anymore.

Those other creatures, those running this place, they smelled like something it knew it hated deeply. It could not place why, or what, but it was beyond them keeping it here. It decided to kill them all. Some corner of its mind objected, revolted, but the thirst drowned it all out. It needed energy, might just as well come from its enemies.

At a time it could not name, it started to hear the screams. The first time far away, just a tremor of force, but the second time much louder. It did not matter at first, but as it went on it felt perhaps a little familiar. Eventually the sound ended, and it would not have cared much if not too longer after that, the force that fueled the lights vanished.

Then the ceiling caved in. It was on his feet at once, wings tingled to leave.

In lowered a face so head as long as it itself was tall, ... at least, it had eyes and mouth, but its form was long and it lacked hair, having backward horns and scales instead, unlike itself or any of the other creatures. There were no legs or arms.

It looked and smelled like something that it ought to remember, but could not. Understanding of whatever that identity was never arrived, but it definitely smelled familiar and the power it emanated wasn't a strange either. By now, it had become quite aware of missing knowledge.

The creature raised its massive head and there was a smaller head, more akin to its own, that looked up and smiled. That felt familiar, it was a friendly gesture ... right, this was an ally. It knew this creature from somewhere. Placeless images came to mind ... the creature had not always been this large, but it had always been an ally.

The head made a jerking motion upward, then its long body pulled out again, back the way it had come.

It followed eagerly. The ground separating it was thicker than the creature's head, but it had wrecked a mechanism outside that was probably what had kept this prison locked... it knew this concept, but there were no images or understandings of how exactly it worked, or how others looked like ... felt there had to be.

It was now in wide enough space to stretch its wings, but it was too weak to do anything with it. So it walked, doings its best to keep up.

The ally went a particular way, and having nothing better to do, it followed. Along the way, it started smelling the scent of prey. Its mouth started to water and that deafening drive started to take over its mind, overpowering anything else. It needed to feed.

The first thing it found on its way had stepped out of a room, and it was so shocked by the giant monster it didn't even notice the much smaller threat until it was too late. The thing screamed, an instinct said to snap its neck. The thirst and hunger took complete control, and it started to eat.

There was something of a presence of the prey still there, lingering around and emanating energy. It seemed to stick to its wings, and after a while it figured out how to fully draw it in. The something was shaped like its physical form, it could grab hold of it as if it still were. It was loud and tried making some sort of noiseless noise, but soon fell asleep. Its ally waited till it was done, then continued along a particular way. It didn't take long before its next prey was found. The next one it grabbed by the head and neck, and twisted the head. Another thing to eat.

It stopped following the ally after a while, there was some stream of power drawing it near. It followed this stream down the halls, eating whatever it met. The ally had no choice but to follow, which was just as well. Given its expression, it did not like it though and it kept trying to steer into another direction.

The source of power called it in, and after having eaten a decent bit it could fly there. Faster and faster, it passed hall and room and a maze that kept it from going in a straight line. Food ran out along the way, but it kept flying.

There was a massive hall at its destination and a raised room at its center, atop a tower. There was to source ... within stone. power drew it close and it raised a hand to touch it, gaining some calmness from it. The thirst and hunger were pushed back and at this moment it remembered something.

There was another ally, still missing. Its current ally must have been trying to find it.

The images that came to mind were of a strange blend of a limbed creature like itself, and limbless like the monster that waited at the tower's foot.

It turned around at once and went back the way they had come, much to the satisfaction of its ally, who started knocking down walls and floors. When it opened its mouth some sort of bright energy came out, which seemed to make matter less solid and allowed it to break through easily. Imitating it did not work, unfortunately, but soon it did not care anymore for what skills it had. It had caught a scent it recognized instantly.

This was the other ally, an alluring scent ... female. An instinctive understanding of that concept surfaced. He himself was a male, and so was their monster ally.

Another broken wall, and the scent intensified immensely. He was through the hole before his ally could fits his body through. Wandering the halls, he eventually came across a closer door that he could pry open easily.

When he stepped in, he was met with the scent of fear and anxiety. She looked not quite right. Her coloration was wrong, too shadowy, and her tail was scalier than it ought to be. Still it was her, one of the few things in the world that he liked. While he did not know why she was so important, he did know he had to get her out of here, away from the enemy.

He stepped towards her, but when she crawled away from him he stopped. Her eyes grew wide and the smell of fear intensified. She pushed herself as close to the wall as she could.

She wasn't supposed to be afraid of him.

Closing the distance between them, he knelt before her and reached out a hand. He paused again, looking at the blood that was still on it and having some dim awareness of this being wrong.

"Michel?" The sound was yet another familiar thing that didn't recall anything, but he liked it.

Her eyes kept going to his hands, which in his mind started to connect with the blood. She was afraid he would hurt her. The very idea was ridiculous, but it did not matter. This place was hostile, so he would get both of them out of here. He leaned forward, moving slower this time, and reached one arm behind her back and one under her tail. When he lifted her up, she became a little less tensed and held onto his shoulders.

He felt himself smile, but only paid heed to yet another gap of knowledge for a second or so. Not so far away, his ally had started making peculiar sounds. It was time to leave. Holding her close, he ran until there was enough room to spread his wings.

**· · · · · · ·**


	23. Cacoethes

**· · · · · · ·**

Only when he lost his mind did he look like that, pupils shrunken and blood on his hands. When he had stepped into her cell, it had looked like the last thing she needed. It had become clear quick enough that this time was different, but not by much. Perhaps he meant her no harm, he had lost all inhibition towards others, judging by the bodies she saw on their way out.

"Why did you kill them? Michel?"

He looked down a little confused and just kept walking. Something was incredibly wrong.

She momentarily was distracted when she saw Mahahanu in the large hall outside the prison section. How in the seven seas had he become so huge? Had her own power done this, or did she had the sea staff or her ancestors to thank for it?

"Forgive me, I could not stop but a few times." He was breathing heavily and his head drooped low to the ground, even though the ceiling was high. Like a whale on land, he was not built for this.

"I'm sure you did your best, I should apologize. It's my power that did this ... I cannot change you back right now. Will you hold out?"

"I won't die just yet. Worry about other things first," he said.

Michel walked past him and Seira looked over his shoulder. "Do you know what happened to Michel? Why won't he speak?" Also, why was he killing people?

"I asked him for a signal, he doesn't even understand language. My guess is that absolute memory theft is at work. I've seen it a few centuries ago, it leaves one without any specific recollection and free to the rule on instinct. Thought patterns remain, but memories are the foundation of the mind."

"But he remembers us, right?" she asked hopefully.

"True, but don't count on this meaning anything. Seira, he eats what he kills. He only did not do so now because he came to find you." A shiver ran through Seira and despite all logic, she held tighter onto Michel.

If she understood correctly they used that staff with fins to take memories, but when she had connected to it she had noticed anything _in_ it. They had to have channeled Michel's memories away already at that time.

"Then we have to find out where they store his memories before we escape. We can't let him out into the world, not like this."

Mahahanu nodded. "And how about you? Can we let you into the world like that?"

"I'm not going to be like Sara!" She spoke so loudly that Michel stopped and looked down, worry on his face. Seira forced herself to relax. "It's alright ..." she whispered. "No, it's _not_ alright, but it has to be."

"I meant your lack of legs, princess."

"Oh. It's this net, it keeps me from using my own power. I could hijack that staff to pour it into you, but now they took that away too."

He nodded, told her that Michel would head away from the crowded areas judging by his road and kept silent from then on, his breath becoming more and more labourous.

Michel kept walking in a particular direction, sometimes stretching his wings to test whether the space was becoming wide enough to fly. Everytime he folded them back in, irritated.

Whenever they smelled something, Mahahanu went ahead and scared away anyone who might still be in the halls. Michel seemed annoyed with this, Seira recognized the waver in his aura that indicated he was on unstable energy. Ordinary humans wouldn't give him much to go on and she suspected they had starved him, there wasn't a sign either of his gold or his halo. Nothing for him to channel on in a world he wasn't meant for. Just how long had they been here?

Just how much not alright it was became apparent when they ran across resistance. They were passing a railroad, probably for transpart of suplies or larger monsters when Mahahanu returned, bleeding and slow. "Enemies!"

He'd barely said it or the tall passage flooded shut ahead of them and behind them. Armed humans, and creatures that looked like humans, even an anthropomorphic wolf so now and then.

Michel quickly crossed the distance between him and Mahahanu, who curled up as well as he could given the walls on either side. He set Seira down in the safety of the naga's coils, then turned his attention to the enemies and his prey. The same bullets that had harmed Mahahanu grazed him in the split seconds Seira saw him before he vanished beyond the naga. Seira had exactly three seconds to think that this meant they wanted him alive before the screams started.

All Seira could do was cover her ears. Fear was a whole lot harder to control when one had an organic body full of neurochemicals. She had witnessed Michel kill and eat before, but at that point she had been an unborn spirit. No stomach, no nausea, so disgust had not existed for her. Now, every crack of bone and tear of flesh added to the horror. The iron scent of blood became thick in the air.

Only when Mahahanu nudged her did she look up. The lights in the hall were gone, but in the rays of a few fallen flashlights she saw a healed Michel, six wings folded behind him. There were a few drops of blood on his robes, for a moment she hoped he really hadn't eaten anyone. She knew better though; thirst was the primary craving, she recalled, the blood probably went first. But most of all, she knew it by the look on his face. He was trembling slightly as he stared at something on the ground right before him, like he was trying to force understanding of something that he knew was wrong yet not why. Seira pushed up a little to look over Mahahanu's tailtip and sank back right away.

"Close your eyes when we pass," Mahahanu said. At this, Michel finally looked up and refocussed. He stretched his six wings again, and didn't even span half. This time he was less irritated though, more intent on simply testing his new wings. After looking one last time at the ground, he went to Seira and lifted her again. She buried her face in what was left of his hair, ignoring the sound of splinters and dampness under his feet.

In the darkness of her mind, Seira set faces to blame for this. Archon, who had won their trust and betrayed them. It was his fault Michel had become this way, his fault that those people died. Before she could figure out what exactly to do with that hatred, Mahahanu spoke up again. "He is heading back to that tower. Maybe if he stays with it longer, he'll be able to think more clearly, that's what happened before."

She smiled weakly, briefly at the hopeful words and kept her eyes closed until they were of the rails.

From there on, the passages and halls changed. Those closer to the organization's headquarters had been more polished, but the farther they went, the darker and rougher it became. Seira had to rely on the same magic that allowed her to enhance what little light existed below the sea. Eventually, all artificial light was gone and any sign of human civilization not worth a mention.

This part of the ruined city was lined with hieroglyphs and statues, which humans had been in the process of tearing down. Michel looked at them intently, curious in particular to those that depicted Ancients. He lingered often but never really stopped walking.

Light returned suddenly when they reached a hall, one not as massive as the pillar halls, but still large enough to provide an echo and dwarf even the naga. It had five walls and as Mahahanu had said, there was a tower here with a shining beacon near the opposite wall. It stood close till the ceiling and lack stairs, though it had several extensions that reminded Seira of bird perches. Surrounding it was a wide space filled with teal light.

Alongside the lower hall was an open passage, its pillars arched by statues of strange creatures both bird and humans simultaneously. Above these statues of Ancients merged into the walls, their arms spread as if guarding the birds. Like the light at the center, their eyes were starting to glow a dim blue. First only those below which Michel had passed, then fanning out to the entire hall. There was some rubble on the floor, the last remnant of renovations never gone through.

Michel spread all six wings now he was in the clear and took off. Now Seira could see the source of the light : above the way they had entered was a massive spherical window not unlike stained glass. Behind it was an indistinct sphere, like a small sun hovering in a sky with only aurora borealis. The sight was stunning to the point Seira had a moment where she forgot everything else.

"What is this?" she whispered.

"It's probably some sort of knot of the planet's energies," Mahahanu bellowed from below. "Sky energy held by earth magic."

Michel landed the gazebo like top of the tower, here he carefully set Seira near the center statue. He ignored the window entirely, but seemed fascinated with the energy source and the hieroglyps that lined the two walls flanking the tower. These were not hybrids, though many combined human and bird traits. Rokh, Feniks, Bennu, Iris, Furies, Sirens, Harpies, Thunderbird, Sirin, Alkanost, Garuda and other birds from across the world were depicted. She could only guess at the purpose of this hall.

This explained _a lot_ about Fuku never finding a non-aquatic source of energy for Michel, or even bothering much with the Panthalassans. Anything taken from land or sky probably would have lead him to find out about the existence of the other Ancients, so naturally Fuku would have discouraged involvement. Fuku, another face for her hatred. There were a few of his kind amongst the engraved images.

Michel prefered to look at the Ancients, only to gradually grow dissapointed. A quick glance at his own wings had Seira guess it was because none were quite like him.

In any case, it was clear he wasn't intent on going anywhere else for now. She tried flexing her power, but now she was father away from her pearl there was even less she could do. She moved herself a little closer to the edge and saw that Mahahanu had curled around the tower's base.

"Can you remember where Lucia left you an escape route?" she called.

"Yes, but I don't think I can get there in this size. Are you positive you are restricted even from directing your power?"

"I tried, but it only feels like grasping dry sand." Seira sighed. "Now that I'm black, a new orange princess will be created. Lucia _will_ know something has gone wrong, so I'm sure she will send back up somehow. Till then, let's stay here."

"She hasn't in the past five days."

"We've been here _that_ long?"

"I'm guessing by the shifts that fed me and knowledge of how long it takes me to digest anything. Yes, at least five days."

Had Lucia really been unable to send any help?

"Princess, I'll need to rest now. Breathing is becoming a problem."

"Sorry," she said. This time, he didn't reply. His eyes were closed and she hoped it was a good sleep. Pushing herself back to the statue, she decided she could use some sleep as well. Maybe she'd have an inkling of a plan when in a better state of mind.

Michel came to sit aside of her and didn't make a secret out of looking her 's plans for a peaceful sleep were shattered when she realized that no memory routes meant a large a large chunk of his inhibitions would be gone. For now she was glad she was in mermaid form. He seemed confused by her tail, and she would rather keep it that way.

When he reached out to trace his fingers up her tail and onto her arm, she stiffened. In part it was out of fear, in part because it felt pleasant. No, this wasn't going right at all. She sat up and took his hand.

"No," she said softly. "Please don't."

He made a frustrated sound, but withdrew his hand for a moment. Then he brought it to her forehead. Before she could respond, he placed a memory of his own in her head. It was a strange composition of emotion, sight and sensation of how he saw her. At the surface, it brought her realization that he absolutely meant her no pain — he met her scent and looks of fear with disbelief — but there was also more.

This was so heading the wrong direction and he was not in a state of mind to comprehend he might hurt her in other ways. Seira curled up her tail tightly and set both of her hands on his shoulders, pushing him away while looking him straight in the eyes.

"No," she repeated more firmly. More confused, he stayed back.

The vision lingered in her head, taking form. Attached to the emotion was the hollow tug of memories that weren't there to be remembered, but their absence didn't diminish the core. There was no way around it, no way to phrase it in a tactical way. Michel just was very much in love with her.

"No," Seira said again. No to this getting out of control, no to the fate that kept messing everything up. But not to the quiet hate she kept safely in her mind. She curled to a ball and hid her eyes.

When Michel noticed she wasn't relenting, he leaned back against the statue. She heard the soft sound of his wings unfolding and their brush as they passed over her, blocking the light from the window. They eminated a warmth that Seira found welcome, since the net also was interfering with her ability to magically regulate her temperature. Without it she could still withstand more cold than a human, but not as well as with magic.

Did the Ancients have any additional body language roles for their extra limbs? After a long, sleepless time puzzling over this, she moved a little closer, curled up again and pulled his wings closer with the tips of her fingers. He added his third wing and she saw him smile again from the corner of her eye. The warmth increased until she was close to her average.

She wanted to talk to him, figure out what to do about everything, but right now he couldn't answer. Stripped down to the basics, there was only what she had learned back then. A nice person who happened to have horrific instincts.

Had all the ancients secretly been like this, concealing a blood thirsthy nature? It might explain why Earth had driven them to extinction? On the flip side, Michel was Ancient DNA with human and Panthalassan tacked on. Plenty of reason to assume that was what made him this way, which meant the Ancients had died for no clear reason. She didn't like either idea, that the Ancients were monsters or that Earth was whimsically disturbed.

Maybe the Aqua Regina was also disturbed, be it in a different way. Seira became more and more certain that the goddess's words and magic were centered around keeping the mermaid world a small paradise, safe from the corrupting world. Earth and her apparently didn't quite agree on everything. Seira felt like a pawn, which remembered her too much of how Michel had once felt about his unwanted purpose.

The truth was that there was no epiphany or dramatic realization. With a decade touched up by the past few months, there wasn't anything left to confirm a dream.

Nothing was right in the world, and she didn't care about figuring it out, but made a point of someday reminding Lucia just how lucky she was with her and Kaito's beginnings. At least what good had existed in the past could not be taken away.

**· · · · · · ·**

Seira woke to the sound of screaming. Bolting upright, she frantically pushed to the edge of the platform.

Down there in the center of the hall, Michel had another victim. She had to squint against the light, but those were absolutely batwings.

"Mahahanu, stop Michel! That's a friend!"

As fast as he could, the naga tried to close its mouth around Michel's wings. Michel dodged, but with a victim in his hand she wasn't quick enough and the tip of two wings were caught. Mahahanu slung him away, thus marking himself the new target of Michel's aggression.

Lady Bat rolled a few meters, not giving a sign of life.

Michel wasn't inclined to kill Mahahanu, but did engage, perhaps thinking they were competing for food. The manic grin on his face scared Seira, but also made her angry. People really had to stop messing up Michel's mind.

Looking down, she noticed the ledges and perches again. They looked much larger from up here, she could imagine Garuda easily fitting on one of them. Without legs or stairway, her pearl far away and little lifeforce left, the stupid idea was apparently her only choice left.

A loud crack echoed through the hall, Michel had broken off part of Mahahanu's scales near the head and was deftly dodging any renewed attempt to grab him.

Seira took a deep breath and pushed herself across the edge, striking her tail across the first perch on her way. The impact hurt more than expected and she let out a small scream, but forced her mouth shut halfway through. Holding on by her tail, she pulled herself up and estimated the distance to the next perch.

Michel's attention was drawn to her, allowing Mahahanu to tackle him with all the weight of his head and neck.

Seira slipped off and fell to the next perch. Her arms and tail started to hurt quickly, giving her trouble holding steady. The last bit to the ground was rather involuntary.

The fight was removed itself further to the point where they had entered the hall. The floor over here was smooth and offered little hold for her tail, but also made it less painful to slither. Moving like this was difficult, being used only to the water, but not impossible; the net trapping her actually helped a little by giving friction. If mermaid tails actually had been those of fish like the legends said, she'd never had the agility to even do this.

Lady Bat was hardly recognizeable, her hair loose and face covered in blood, her clothes casual black under a white lab coat. No sign of the once flamboyant woman she knew. Below the slashed sweater Seira could see a deep gash, but the blood loss wasn't enough to really knock her out cold. She shook her shoulder, first softly, then a little harder.

"Lady Bat!"

Her wings twitched and the vampire yelped in pain. Her eyes shot open, took a moment to focus.

"Are you alright?"

"Hardly ... Wasn't expecting him to not recognize me ... when I saw he didn't harm you and him, I thought he might have retain his scent memory or something ..."

"I'll help you as soon as I can, but first, please tell me how to get Michel's memory back." Seira looked over her shoulder, the fight still went on.

Lady Bat sat up on her knees, inspecting her injuries and wincing at the slightest touch. "Michel's memories ... they're not here, but there's something else." she wheezed. "Listen, a while ago Michel ... visited here and bribed the Black Beauty Sisters ... he didn't know about this place having memory theft magic of their own back then ... he took their memories of the bargain's details with the intent of giving it back later, didn't want them to take info on Michal's halos elsewhere ... those memories and all associated with it are in the third outer feathers of his top set of wings. Can you get me those feathers?"

"I will try my best," she said, then turned away. "Mahahanu, Michel needs to get over here!"

The naga looked at her as if she was nuts, as he had just barely managed to pin Michel down in one place. Nevertheless he obliged, letting Michel go only to be attacked right away. Seira almost cursed.

"Pretend threatening me," she said to Lady Bat. "I'm pretty sure that will get his attention."

"Eh ... okay," she said, raising her wings forward,trying to stand up and appear intimidating. "I've never ... we weren't made to subdue anyone with violence, I'm not sure how." Seira suspected Lady Bat had more fears than just failure, given the way she clutched her torso.

"Screech and try to bite me?"

Lady Bat looked disgusted at the vampire association, yet said, "If this works, he's going to hear about falling for this."

She managed a rather feeble scream, then bent toward's Seira's neck with her mouth open.

Michel was at them almost immediately. He threw Lady Bat away and was about to go after her, but Seira made some catlike sounds that she hoped came across as helpless. It worked. Mahahanu, though even slower than before, also approached.

When Michel had knelt down before her to inspect, she pushed up suddenly and laid her arms around his neck, chin on shoulder, and pulled him a little down with her weight. This surprised him just long enough for her to swing up her tail around the base of his lowestright wing and pull it forward. She made a grab for the feather and got it. Seira threw the feather up and Mahahanu opened his mouth to breathe out, blowing the feather towards Lady Bat, who snatched it from the air.

She brought to before her mouth and blew on it while reciting a line of her song, " _More beautiful than a rose, more seductive than the moon ..._."

The feather vaporized, and at the same moment, a small shock went through Michel. His tensed pose relaxed a little, and Seira used the moment to lean to the other side and grab the next feather. He didn't resist when she pulled it loose.

_"If it's that precious a life, I would want to let it bloom in my hands."_

This feather vaporized too and Michel sat down, looking thoroughly confused at Lady Bat. He almost looked like he wanted to speak.

"What just happened?" Mahahanu asked.

"Can't store memories without leaving some of your personality at it," Lady Bat said in between wincing. "He remembered the Black Beauty Sisters now and saw their memories of me. I'd taken theirs as well shortly after explaining them what went on. Can I now get some help? I've got at least two broken ribs."

Barely had she said that, or she fell forward. Seira noticed a confused Michel incline forward and so she gave him a soft shove, releasing him from her tail at the same moment.

He closed the distance to Lady Bat, lingered for a moment to look back at the other two. Some instinct might compell him to devour this magically charged creature, but it was the memories falling in place that now rendered him in doubt. Seira did her best to looked as fine and unthreatened as she could. Mahahanu moved next to her, tail curled forward to help her climb on his head, then he started moving towards the tower. Seira gestured to Michel that he help Lady Bat up.

Michel was still confused, but obliged by easily picking up Lady Bat and putting her on the naga's neck. Lady Bat bit bad a yelp of pain and clutched her torso. Mahahanu waited till she was ready, then moved back to the tower.

When Seira looked back, she saw Michel was still standing at the same spot, looking very much like he knew he had almost killed one of his family. That too was something Seira had seen in him before she had physical form. Back then, there had been no urge to embrace someone. Now, she just didn't have the legs to jump off and walk back.

**· · · · · · ·**


	24. Alliance

"~ Just when did I fall asleep? ~" was Radu's first thought upon waking. She tried moving, only to notice her sore body. "~Oh, right. Healing. ~"

The next was on the warmth above her. Careful for her bruised body, she looked turned her head up at a veil of mint feathers and their warm radiance. Right, Michel had remembered. This was not how she had imagined meeting him again, but it was not like she hadn't been through cannibalism before. That at least had been coped with.

She raised her hand against the wings, feeling their softness for the moment it took Michel to withdraw them. He looked down at her with what likely was remorse and worry, so she smiled at him while sitting up. She noticed Seira on his other side, leaning on her curled up tail and staring down at a map. When she caught the movement, she also looked up. "Good day, I'm glad you're awake. Do you feel better now?"

"Yes," Radu said, looking down. There was a bandage under her sweater, the cold of some magical ointment and splint around a painful spot in her wing.

Michel's hand tangled through Seira's hair, playing with it. She looked uneasy for a second, but then looked back at the map. "Good, because we'll probably have to move and Mahahanu might not be able to carry us again."

"Where does this come from?" She gestured at the map and medical supplies. There were a few more things, like salves and a scissors lying around, as well as a basket stuffed with snackfood and fruit. A few emptied soda cans were stacked in a corner. Before Seira could answer, Mimi leaned in and declared, "You owe it all to us! Right, sister Sheshe?"

"You bet they do!" Sheshe called from down below.

"If you'd have shown up a little earlier—" Radu was cut off when she caught sight of the astral mirror at the side of the entrance. She recognized the device, but what on earth was it reflecting?

"We're _late_?" Mimi said indignantly. "You sure took your time waking up, prettyboy."

Radu's eyes narrowed. "You can call me Radu, but you can't call me boy. That game is over."

"Fine, fine. Whatever you want. Quite ungrateful, when we had to go back all the way to get all you jerks some bandages and food." She kicked the stack of cans. Michel's wings twitched, he was irritated with her. Mimi noticed just as quickly and held up her hands. "No ugly noise, got it."

Michel leaned back against the statue again, from which Radu felt a tremor of ancient energy. It was very pleasant to be close to, but the ominous sight of the mirror across of them kept her from true rest. The aurora in the darkness was nothing unusual, but the green star couldn't be explained. These mirrors were meant to show things that had actually happened and had been recorded in the libraries of the sky castles.

Seira folded the map and sat up.

"I think I figured out a way we can make it to the organization's gateways even with Mahahanu," she said, looking at Mimi. "How's he doing?"

"Unless we're going to get another ridiculous capture attempt, I should have him patched up within the next half hour."

"Are you sure you don't need my help, sister Sheshe?"

"No, just stay up there with the gun in case he gets hungry."

There was a low, hissing rumble and a smothered, "Don't eat sapients."

Radu almost said that those memories were fake, they had never been eaten by any nagas. However, the naga had not been happy at all about the death of his companion and Radu felt a little too frail right now to admit she was behind the rash actions of the Black Beauty Sister that made them so violent.

Michel grabbed the folded map and opened it, looking it over for a second before expectantly turning to Seira.

"We're going to get out," she said. "Say, Radu, can give him memories? Maybe we can communicate that way."

"I'll have to sing for that," she said apologetically, raised a hand to her side. "It doesn't work if I sing poorly. But I should be able to be healed well enough in a few hours. So, is a map all we've got?"

"Yep," Mimi said. "So how are we going to kill those hours? Me and sister Sheshe already did all the talking with Seira, she knows about the contract, the trouble likely to come our way ... we're out of silence killer."

"Actually, I have a lot of questions for Lady Bat," Seira said, causing Radu to smile a little. After years of having to hide her expertise, it was nice to be able to explain things.

"I go by the name Radu now, it's not just a secret identity. I realized at some point that not only does Lady Bat sound silly, it also makes me sound desperate." She carefully stood up and walked to Michel's other side, where she sat down leaning against one of the pillars. After casting a quick look at the operation downstairs, she said, "So, shoot."

"I've got some idea about why you're here, from what they told me. But there are gaps. What exactly did they do to Michel? What was the deal with those feathers? Why didn't you escape?" Seira asked.

Mimi sat down, legs dangling over the edge. "Yeah, we'd like to know too. They've got this sea staff, told us where to aim, why didn't they get the vegetable they wanted?"

Radu had a lot of practice with not speaking her mind, so she swallowed a rebuke. "Ancients are partially immune to mind manipulation, but not mind dissection. It took the sea staff for them to even _try_ stealing Michel's memories, which only works because of Michal's DNA and its sea link anyway, and he still got to decide where those memories went. Not to the organization, that's for sure. Probably with Michal. I can't change that." After some hesitation, she added, "This is why I had to give you girls memories of being eaten by a naga once, to cover up for the Michel related memories I had taken from you."

"No mind manipulation? But didn't that Fuku figure possess Michel once?" said a heavy voice from below. Radu breathed a sigh of relief when the naga passed up commenting on his friend's death.

"That's _body_ manipulation. Michel could implant emotions into Michal, but Fuku lacked that power altogether. Otherwise, he would have done something about Michel's curiosity and doubt ... say, you're rather up to date with the past. Not a lot of people were there to witness those events."

"You may have met my aunt in the sky castles," the naga said. "My mother hasn't talked to her for a while, but they're as related as it gets and she makes sure to stay on top of important events."

Lady Bat blinked for a moment. She did remember something about Vinata saying her sisters had given up her wings. "Say, Seira, who did you have two naga guards anyway?"

"A favor by Kadru, when me and Michel rescued some of her people."

Huh. Really now? Before she could ask, Mahahanu rumbled, "That and a fate nexus was broken and our matriarch decided someone had to hang out with the best friend of the one living Ancient. It was her best shot at doing something."

"Kadru knew about something being wrong? And what is a fate nexus?" Seira said with as much disbelief as Radu felt, though for different reasons. The organization had been aware of leaking information, but apparently a shriveled old lady has a better clue at what was going on.

"I have no idea, princess. Just that whatever it is increases the likeliness of information getting places, ideas being born and realizations had."

"Oh, that's why," Mimi said. "Whenever we step outside of this place, we were to write down every apparently random, nonsensical thought we got, and every realization everyone had about long ago events. Really weird. They could just extract those memories, right?"

"They can, but that leaves behind emotions," Radu said, nodding at Michel. "He still cares for Seira and for me, but needed identification before those feelings get a focus. The same rings true for you two. If they force anyone to have their memories taken away, a feeling of distrust remains. With the source forgotten, that distrust can evolve into paranoia. That has caused problems in the past, so by the time you two arrived they had stopped doing it to the unwilling that they really needed."

"Well well. Once we get to Archon, we're going to have a nice little chat about that," Sheshe yelled up. "Also, we should get files on those random revelations, right, sister Mimi?"

"You bet, sister Sheshe."

Radu felt her healing slow down and adjusted her pose a little, reached for some of the snacks. Seira was still expectant to her answers, but Radu had to down a few cokes before continuing.

Her speculation on Michel's state was that since he remembered Mahahanu as well, he probably had been cycling certain info to his short therm memory while his long therm was being emptied. Since the organization was already messing with his senses through short therm memory, they didn't try emptying that lest they risk he regain sight and hearing while they worked.

The feathers contained trace memories and identities, which included events from the past. The bargain with the sisters was about halos, and so it had included an explanation that related to Michal and Fuku, but he had also mentioned how memory powers worked and how it was different from that of herself. When released the memories, she had bounced them through Michel before they arrived with their owners. Right now, Michel would know the identities of Radu, Mimi, Sheshe and Fuku, if he came across them.

Her own story was simple in essence. She had been caught at the faux-vampire place, but after learning she could extend her hypnotic power to all sorts of information, not just those in brains, she had been able to erase any evidence of her presence. However, she had to be in range. If she left the organization, she wouldn't be there to erase herself anymore, and thus be caught. So, she lived here without ever passing any of the barriers and everyone knew her as just another scientist.

She hoped Merron and Richard were alright. "These people aren't villains, Seira. They really do a lot of good for the world, and I didn't mind helping them ... at least not until recently."

Seira said nothing, where Radu was certain once she would have agreed without second thought. She knew very little about mermaids turning black, but this wasn't the time to ask. So she went on about facts. In retrospect, both her expanding her powers and the discovery of the Sea Staff could be attributed to the random bursts of information that were going round. Not that there was any way to verify this; they didn't even have a clue of the mechanism behind the complacency field.

All the while, she kept a close look at the blackened Seira, her apparent discomfort with Michel and the strange circumstances of her controlling the staff and turning black. So, she asked about it.

"I didn't do that alone ... I think my ancestors helped me with that."

"Can your ancestors help us get out of here?" Sheshe said as she leaped onto the floor. She wiped her hands on a blood trenches cloth and then threw it off the tower.

"I'm not aware of them right now. I think they were only noticeable outside of my dreams because I'd been linked to that staff. But never mind that. It's more important right now that we get Michel better and escape."

"We'll probably have to flip that order," Radu said. "If Michal hasn't succeeded in pushing them back yet, there's something in the way. Perhaps it's the barriers here and we have no staff or rod to circumvent it."

"Or perhaps it's that these ruins aren't really part of the planet," Mahahanu called.

"Perhaps," Sheshe said. "Whatever. How about me and my sister go kill those hours by getting a certain few things, like that pearl or a certain halo or perhaps a flute? At a price, off course."

Seira crossed her arms. "What price?"

"We want the Arabian Sea," she said.

At first Seira just gaped.

"Why would I?" she said after cutting silence.

Michel almost stood up, glaring at the sisters, but she lowered her voice and continued at a softer tone, "You are stuck here as well as I am, now that you've joined with us. You need me to get out, so you are in no position to make these kinds of demands."

"Oh come on. After what Sara's doing to that place right now, you won't have much use for it anyway."

" _What_?"

"Didn't you hear?" Sheshe said, grinning. "You've been announced dead. Since they can't find your soul or believe that you'd go black, they think the organization has a soul jar. Sara didn't like this thought very much. With Gackto's help, she seized control of the Indian Ocean and started driving out humans in whatever way she can. She's also trying to take back your separatists in the Arabian Sea. There's a war now."

Mimi leaned against Sheshe and put an arm around her. "Off course, you could send Michel to clean up and get the items yourself. He seems to handle being shot quite well as long as he eats someone right after. I wonder whether he'll get any more wings next dinner."

**· · · · · · ·**

It felt like he knew their names, but actually stating the names didn't quite work. Lady Bat, who felt like a good friend but was very confusing on the gender part ... smelled male, but was remembered female? Mimi and Sheshe, who smelled like females but also males and whom he likes less for some reason. And Seira was the wrong color but still was herself, so he chalked it up to everything being a little wrong.

Whatever had happened with those feathers had made him remember, and he understood they had played a ploy to make it happen, but that only placed him with more confusion. Before he recalled, Lady Bat had smelled like very taste magical prey, but now there were emotions connected to him ... her ... whatever ... it was despicable. The instincts didn't even stop once he knew, they only stopped when he fed or was near this energy source.

She had to have a name too. The sounds the group exchanged was incomprehensible, but sometimes they aimed 'Seira' at her and it felt like it fit. For now, she seemed alright, less smelling of fear than before.

Mimi and Sheshe left eventually. He didn't mind. His attention was divided between Seira and Lady Bat, one he wanted to let him closer and the other whom he had no idea what to do around. Lady Bat was injured and it was his fault. Seira couldn't walk, Lady Bat couldn't fly. Rather than dwelling to much on the fruitless guilt, he tried to think up ways to carry them both.

Mimi and Sheshe returned after a while, an unpleasant scent coming from their weapons and mouths wide open ... laughing wasn't always a good sign with those two, he felt, so he remained cautious. Aside of her weapon, Mimi also had a small bundle that she started unpacking. Out she took a few oddly familiar objects.

One was a beaded chain with a tiny encasing on it. They handed it to Seira, but he noticed they somehow had kept part of it. Seira made no attempts to get that part, though she clearly knew.

The rest was yellowish material that felt really familiar, which interested him for more. Somehow, this was like an extension of himself. He picked up the parts and handled them, first the round ones ... they went around his neck. When he held them closer, they merged right through him and settled. It was like that item they had just given Seira, a part of him.

There was a long stick of the same material that didn't fit on his body, but it could dissolve into his hand. Also others things, but what were those again? He didn't need to know in order to feel where everything went. Once all was in place, he was discontent. Some things were missing. He could sense them far away, much like the other self was far away and unreachable. They were in different locations though. He really needed to fix that. Everything had to be together to full the hole in the world. Seira had had this map earlier, weren't there plans to leave this place? The world outside still felt cut off, but he had a concept of it now ... he had to reach his other self for starters.

Last was a glowing circle that Radu carefully placed above his head. He snatched it away immediately, feeling it connected him to the energy of the surroundings. He could finally soak up the force within this tower, so he clutched the circle and brought it closer to the light. Within seconds, he had absorbed it all, filling his wings to the brim.

This apparently was the group's cue to move. Mimi and Sheshe went ahead, jumping down the tower with expert agility.

Their large ally — Mahahanu? — wasn't bleeding anymore when he brought Seira down. The injuries were clotted with a foul smelling substance that somehow clotted the injuries, but he was still very slow. By the time he had carried down Lady Bat, Mahahanu was only halfway through the hall.

Transporting Lady Bat didn't turn out to be a huge problem. She had a whole wing, another one nearly haled, two legs and two arms to balance herself atop Mahahanu's back. So, he carried Seira and closed the small caravan this way.

They passed a lot of halls, met some resistance along the way that was bloodlessly dispatched when Lady Bat started making noise and the enemy seemed to become completely confused ... perhaps they were experiencing his own kind of confusion. He set Seira down to kill one that dealt with the confusion by opening fire.

Seira didn't like that. His instincts told him it was alright to dispose of enemies, especially ... _humans_ , they were called, but she disagreed. And he agreed with that. Now he had lost most of the compulsion to eat, the revulsion of eating something that looked somewhat like how was all the stronger.

Maybe she feared he's eat her.

Maybe he already had once ...

Maybe he should think of everything as impossible to eat in the same way that previous thought was not wanted.

Mimi and Sheshe led them to a part in this area — city? — where he sensed some sort of energetic anomaly. He really wanted that energy too, felt like he could grow another set of wings, but there was a special trick to get it and he didn't know it ... should know, but didn't.

They were back in the brightly lit areas now and enemies became more inventive, though also more difficult. They were even using the holes Mahahanu made for cover. Again he set down Seira and stepped forward, making an instinctive move towards manifesting that stick on pure muscle memory. Out snaked a set of energy draining tendrils, and he felt he could use them to strike.

Killing things was so much easier now. Before, some things just wouldn't die, but now he could just snap their necks from a distance, long before they could even aim those weapons. He wasn't entirely sure where they were supposed to go, just focused on getting ahead methodically. At was almost boring, and he hardly minded when Mahahanu got in the way. This time, it was Radu who called the tone, "No!"

He heard Mimi and Sheshe fire and go ahead, felt inclined to join them, but they were firm in not letting him pass. The room they were in was wide, but so was Mahahanu, and it wasn't tall enough to fly. So, Seira had the time to crawl up and tug at his wing.

"Michel?"

Without much resistance, he let her draw him back from the temptation of joining the battle. Closing in on her brought her scent on stronger, and the revulsion of eating creatures slowly blurred with the idea of killing them. The antithesis confused him, but Seira kept demanding he stop, and so he did.

He knelt down and stayed there until Mimi and Sheshe started making loud calls. Mahahanu raised his head and he saw a glowing distortion in the air ... a stairway? The others had stepped on it, and Seira pointed at it. He moved to lift her again, then looked at the thing hesitantly.

More enemies arrived from the back, and Mahahanu pushed him and Seira into the gateway, following right behind.

The moment the energy closed off the link to the city, he sensed the missing world ebbing in through the golden circle. It was still vague and distant, but that was less relevant than the fact that his other self's presence didn't intensify in contrast.

There was someone else in her mind.


	25. Eucalyptus

The not so small group landed in a foggy forest, in the earliest hours of dawn. Seira noticed Michel tense up and then abruptly relax, breaking into a wide smile as he looked around. He lowered Seira to the ground and went to the nearest tree.

Seira laid down in the comforting coldness of the grass, looking at the dew drops on their surface. While she had never felt any particular affinity to the forest, she liked it far better than the dry underground. There was also a small lake nearby, which complimented her power, however latent. Mahahanu slowly moved into the water, breathing out heavily as some of his weight was elevated.

In a far away distance, she felt something ...

Her daughter.

The next orange princess had been created and was waiting for her pearl. Seira's hand went to her necklace, and had no answer. They couldn't both live.

She looked around to Michel, who stood still stood at that tree, laying his hand on it. At his touch, the rustle of leaves a little clearer and the wind howled a little. He looked like a child who had discovered paradise, and then he spread his wings and darted through the treetops.

Sheshe and Mimi looked with somewhat disturbed eyes at the scene. "I'd laugh if I didn't see him try to grab that rabbit," Mimi said. "This reminds me of certain icky things."

"And now what?" Sheshe asked Radu.

"I'll go scout the area and see where we are. You four should stay here for the time being," Radu said.

"You're sure they won't come after us?"

"I planted a virus in their computer, by the time they have things sorted out a few hours will have passed. We will most likely be found by the time that happens."

Sheshe laid an arm around Mimi's waist and pulled her a little closer. "Alright, I think we'll go rest a bit. Over there, I smell a cave. Don't bother us."

As they left, Seira sat up again. "I'm sure that Hippo will sooner or later use his pearl radar, but when? Perhaps we should move."

"The organization doesn't have that technology. They'll need to test every gateway one by one to see whether we have used it, since it bypasses the barriers. No DNA scans. Let's hope no one thinks of how I might know the pass to Merron's gateway home. I've redirected it drastically, they'll notice when they check." Radu knelt down beside her, wincing when she moved a little too quickly. "Anyway, we are outside now, can you give Michal a call?"

"Not with this around me," Seira said, indicating the net.

"Then we have no choice but to wait for Hippo.

Mahahanu raised his head out of the lake. "Actually, judging by these trees, I have a relative here. Ngalyod, an expert in the dream realm. They were around as early as the Dream Time. I'll look for them."

With effort, he moved out of the lake again. Seira was worried about whether he'd last much longer. When he passed by, she brushed her hand across his snout, and the lower face smiled at her, as if trying to say she shouldn't feel guilty. She did so anyway.

With much noise, Mahahanu wormed his way through the trees, leaving a massive trail behind. That was another reason fleeing wouldn't do much good.

So now and then, Michel was visible through the trees. His hands turned red quickly.

"Where's the rest of his jewelry?" Radu asked, very deliberately not looking at Michel. Everyone here had bad memories of Michel on the hunt.

"It's still on the island, I think." When Radu gave her a confused look, she explained, "We have an island where Michel's remaining monsters live. It's more or less been his home ever since he returned. What is that gold anyway?"

"It's much like that net around you : matter as handled by Ancients can be steered by will rather than being truly solid. I'd hoped they would help Michal push back Michel's memories. But since that isn't working ..." Radu pressed her lips together for a moment. "I'll go scouting a bit after all. I think it'll be awkward to have an audience."

Seira was getting a hunch where this was going, but only stared.

"You do remember how Lucia restored Kaito's memories, right?"

"Yes, but Kaito had just sealed his own memories," Seira said quickly. "They weren't anywhere else but his own head."

Radu raised an eyebrow. "Really? You think it works like that? And who says so?"

"Kaito himself."

"Kaito, or was it perhaps Gackto?" When Seira didn't immediately respond, Radu continued, "What do you think is more likely? That Gackto has something to hide about his powers and to what extend he can read minds, or that Kaito would be so idiotic as to disable himself from protecting Lucia and the others?"

"He thought Michel had telepathic powers, since he heard his voice in his head through the music. Lucia later heard the same."

"And this led Kaito to conclude Michel could read his mind but _hadn't_ already done so? We knew to use Kaito as bait because Michel gathered that much from Kaito's memories. Michal's interaction with Kaito triggered some, that's how. If Gackto knows this, then he must have some very sharp powers in regards to memories and dream layers. I can't tell why he'd lie to Kaito, only what I know."

Seira turned her face down, plucking at the grass. "Alright, let's assume the key is indeed a kiss ... is it going to matter that I'm not in love with Michel right now?"

"Huh?"

"It's gone. That butterfly in my stomach, fate spoken certainty that it was true love. I don't feel it anymore." Seira couldn't tell what exactly that expression on Radu's face was. Something of uneasiness, embarrassment or disappointment, and she could well imagine why. Radu's disposition towards Michel was that of the admiring follower and she wanted him to be happy.

"There's two ways this could work. One, it's a matter of true love prevailing. Two, it's a matter of heavy emotional triggers jerking those memories back in place, like an elastic under too much tension. In the latter case, it won't matter since Michel will be the only one needed for that trigger. We could off course also do something else, but I think a kiss is a lot nicer than traumatizing him."

"You're right ... I think that's how I got my memories back on my own, trauma. Alright. I guess we would like some privacy for that."

"It'll be fine. I'll take Michel and try to get him clean," she said. Radu walked into the trees and drew Michel's attention. While he tried to goad him to the lake, Seira pushed herself there and submerged in the delicious cold. The water was clear enough to let her take a deep breath. Her dried out lungs finally filled with moisture, though the organ in her throat that filtered oxygen out was sore from lack of use. It wasn't as good as salty water, but it helped her feel so much better.

Radu and Michel splashed into the water not long after. By the time she surfaced, Radu was in a quasi battle with Michel, who was smirking as if it were game. In Radu's her hands were bits of the labcoat she had been wearing and shreds of it were floating around. Radu lunged at Michel and latched onto an arm, holding on with her wings till she pushed the cloth in his face.

"Is everything alright?" Seira called.

"Yes, perfect! I got him to understand it's about cleaning really quickly. He just thinks he can do it better himself and wants to start with me." Radu looked serious enough, but she could hear amusement in her voice. When was the last time she'd seen someone happy?

Oh, right, Sara when she had tried bonding. Seira pushed the thoughts away and laughed a little at the spectacle. Once Michel's hands and face were clean, and Radu profoundly soaked, Seira tentatively approached. Radu nodded at her, then waded out of the water. Michel seemed disappointed the game was over,while Seira was disappointed that it took brainwashing for his playful side to emerge. She'd definitely have to take him down her stairway slide again sometime. But for now ..

Seira took another deep breath of air and swam up to Michel, who was going after Radu and already on shore.

"Michel!"

He turned to her, a curious look on his face.

Well, now or never. She crawled onto the shore and kept eye contact with him. He crouched before her and reached a hand to her hair. Seira hesitated, then pushed back anything but the thought that she did in fact still find him attractive.

Leaning forward, she set both her hands a little behind his head and pulled him closer. For a few seconds the kiss felt pleasant, then it Michel took control and pushed open her mouth. Seira startled so much she lost balance and fell on her back. Michel simply leaned over her and renewed the kiss. Before she even really decided, she unrolled her tail with full force, lashing against his left leg. At the same time she used her arms to push him away.

Unceremoniously, Michel sat back and answered her glare with utter confusion. Then his eyes opened wide. He took a second to orient, then she scrambled to his feet away and stepped back.

"Seira ... I'm ... sorry. I'm sorry," he whispered desperately.

Seira pushed up to her elbows and turned over, trying to steady herself emotionally. "It's alright," she said in a small voice.

Michel didn't look like he believed her, and Seira knew she didn't look alright. Having someone more or less force themselves on oneself was a lot more unsettling than she had thought.

Gathering up a more even voice, she said, "I know you weren't yourself, literary. Compared to the rest of the things going on ... " She waved her hand in the air, trying to appeared nonchalant.

He sat down against a tree, a few meters away from her, hiding his face behind a hand. Having received back the fewer memories she was missing in a similar flood, Seira could imagine that getting back one's whole life would be even more disorienting. That the trigger had to be rejection probably didn't help.

She waited patiently, none the least because her own nerves had to calm down as well. As a mantra, she lined up every bit of logic she knew to assure herself this wouldn't happen again. Michel was sane now, and during all the time they'd been together since his return, he hadn't taken any liberties. _Calm down, instincts_.

"I need to contact the Ancients," Michel said after a while, his voice dry and quiet.

"We need to get out of here first. How much can you remember from our conversations?"

"I ... I think I've got the gist," he muttered, looking over at the trail Mahahanu had left. "He's off to explore?"

"He's off to find a relative."

Michel stood up. "Are you sure you're alright? Did I ..."

"Yes, you didn't directly hurt me," she said, not so untrue anymore. Michel was acting like himself again, which made everything a lot easier.

"I'm ... I'm going to find the others."

For him, the fact probably made everything a lot harder.

**· · · · · · ·**

What was wrong with Michal? She was furious, absent, and completely disoriented. He had expected happiness when she noticed he was back to normal, but nothing significant came through. This wasn't good, but he couldn't change that right now.

Inside his wings, the souls of the humans sank into a deeper sleep. Unlike magical creatures, they simply didn't have the strength to retain awareness once absorbed, and so they were slowly erased the more power he took. Just like the emperor had been, once his beacon was gone and he neither anchor to the physical world or energy to move on. So, Michel tried to find as much extra sources till he had a chance to release them or obtain a new halo from Michal. The sea cradle should provide a chance for that. Till then, he could hunt. A true Ancient would never have such a primitive instinct, but then again, he wasn't a true Ancient.

The eucalyptus forest on closer inspection might be a plantation, he spotted koalas here and there. Those he left in peace, knowing they were vulnerable as a species. Rabbits on the other hand were around in abundance. He could catch them easily, either with his whips or by arrow. It didn't do much to still the hunger, but it was something.

There was no sign of Mahahanu returning, and Radu's trail had followed him. Michel didn't want to leave Seira alone for too long, though he also didn't want to be too close.

As he flew around, he came across a cave that smelled damp and of the Black Beauty Sisters. A dim memory surfaced of talking just before he got his memories back. The sounds were never really registered since they had no meaning to him, but he caught something that might be "don't bother us" and "Arabian Sea".

He decided to bother them.

Landing before the cave, he crossed his arms and leaned against the opening. "Hey, you two! Get your clothes on, we need to talk about a certain Arabian Sea."

He heard a yelp, then some scuffling. Not long after, two very annoyed anglerfish emerged.

"Oh, look who got his mind back," Mimi said with exaggerated cheer and smirk.

"Shouldn't you be with your girlfriend?" Sheshe said. "I had figured you'd be having a romantic smooch scene about now."

"I am adding a new rule to our contract : you will from hence forth keep your trap shut about whatever may or may not have existed between me and Seira."

Mimi held up her hands defensively. "Chill, Michel. When it comes to mermaids, there is bound to be some fluffy happiness sooner or later, right? We just thought—"

"Not paying you for that either. Now answer the question," Michel snapped.

Sheshe crossed her arms and glared at Michel. "For the record, you haven't paid us _yet_ , while we did our part in keeping quiet and backing you up. Until we deliver us those halos, you better keep us happy."

He still glared, but said nothing.

"We're getting the Arabian Sea in exchange for risking our lives to get Seira her pearl back. Since you so conveniently broke Radu's ribs he couldn't do it, as it would rouse suspicion if h-she walked back to his old buddies and refusing the medical aid she'd obviously need. Taking you would have caused another massacre. That left us, and we weren't about to waltz into a heavily armed place where everyone knows our tactics for _nothing_."

Michel gritted his teeth, they did have a point. Asking for a whole sea was excessive, but then again, Seira couldn't offer much else. "What do you even plan to do with the Arabian Sea?"

"Duh, rule it. Don't worry about it. Just because we've got ambition doesn't mean we're going to torture the population. So yeah, we might have exploited the urgency a bit when it came to bargaining, but we're not interested in a massacre. If we really were, we'd have figured out guns a lot sooner." She twirled her gun for a moment before putting it back in its holster. "Besides, you're not the only one whose minds have been tampered with. Have you noticed Mahahanu is furious at us? No? Wait how that'll unfold when he learns we only killed his friend cause Radu redirected our 'being eaten' trauma from you to some random naga. We don't normally make a habit of killing, you know."

"Fine, I get it. One more question. The sea staff, what do you know about it?"

"Dunno much, we just found it while exploring those ruins. It's a power amplifier of some sort. You were at that conversation right? Without it, the organization would never have the ability to handle whatever memories they took."

"Fine. Come along, we're going to move soon." Michel uncrossed his arms, turned away, and realized his list of things he had to handle was dramatically increasing.

**· · · · · · ·**

Radu returned to the lake and found Seira alone. She had curled up, partially in the water. Her arms were around her, almost as if she were sleeping.

"Seira! Where is Michel?"

"He went off to eat something," she said, looking up at him. "He is back to himself again, don't worry. It worked."

The flat tone in which she said that told Radu it hadn't gone as planned. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing could have happened, not when I have a tail. But ... I was scared for a moment. I suppose it makes sense, that memories jolting back would work differently for someone who is missing everything," she said with a weak smile. "He'll have a pretty big bruise on his leg soon."

"I should have thought this through far better," Radu said, slapping her forehead.

"Well, it _did_ work," she said. Uncurling, she moved to the edge of the water. "So, did you find anything?"

Radu frowned. "There is a deserted town not too far to the east, Mahahanu passed through it. I lost track after it. Did Michel say anything at all about Michal?"

Seira shook her head.

"If Michal is somehow incapable or unaware of Michel regaining freedom, I guess our best shot is to find some alternative method of transport." Radu looked at the net still around Seira. "Did Michel try taking that net off yet? He might be able, since he's got the emperor's powers."

Another headshake from Seira. "He left pretty quickly and I didn't ask. I tried taking it off myself, but it hurt. If Hippo won't show up soon, we should risk taking it off by force so that I can create a dream circuit Till then, I think it protects me against the field. I don't mind too much."

"Alright." Radu nodded and tried flexing her wings. She could run well enough, but the splint on her wings would need to stay for a few more hours.

Michel appeared from the trees on foot, followed by Sheshe and Mimi. Seira had been right, Michel was back to normal, she could see it not just in his irises but also his less feral movement and expression. After having not seen the real Michel for so very long only to find him back mad, it was wonderful. Radu threw her arms and wings around him. He startled, but hugged back carefully. Radu recalled how long it had taken Michel to start accepting hugs, and now he seemed to be back to square root one. Great. She wasn't hostile to the organization, but if she had a chance to chew out Archon over anything ... it wouldn't be quite right. He might just as well be manipulated as anyone else.

"I haven't seen you in too long, Michel," she said, letting go. "I missed you."

"Likewise, Lady Bat." He smiled at her, but his gaze flicked at Seira for a moment, so Radu reconsidered asking how he was doing.

"I go by Radu nowadays," she said.

"Oh ... right. I haven't processed all my memories yet. You were stuck in the organization? Do you by any chance know of Alala and Lanhua, did they disappear? Lucia was supposed to have them ..."

"They didn't know about Lanhua, but Alala did indeed disappear. They're not with the organization, so they are probably with the mermaids. I'll restore their memories as soon as I can, and I think I owe them an apology for not doing it sooner."

Michel nodded at the last part. "You're not the only one. I should have thought better than to just send you off so quickly. To be honest, I was trying not to be selfish, but did that wrong."

"Can you people do this later? We shouldn't stay here for too long," Sheshe said, and Radu rolled her eyes. "So did that scouting of yours achieve anything?"

"There's a deserted town that way. No sign yet of Hippo or Lucia. Michel, still no response from Michal?"

"She has been frustrated for the past few days. My memories overloaded her and knocked her out, but I don't understand why she still isn't responding, she feels frozen."

"Is there any way we can get back without risking to take that net off of Seira?"

"Let's see where Mahahanu went," Michel said, and then he finally addressed the silent Seira. "If you like, perhaps Radu could carry you?"

"Eh no, I still have broken bones. I've had to perform self hypnosis to shut down the pain, but that doesn't mean one of my ribs can't accidentally be pushed into my lungs. Not that dying is a big deal for me, but it would take me far too long to generate a new body."

Michel didn't say anything else and just lifted Seira, then took off. Both appeared uneasy with the situation. Across the years she, Michel, Alala and Lanhua had spent together in the sky castles, Radu had caught hints of Michel more or less idolizing Seira. From what little she had seen through the recordings of the organization, at the very least they had appeared good friends, and his general behavior back in the ruined city had cemented it. If the falling in love had happened before meeting her again, he would probably be loving a shadow anyway. If after, then it would be all the harder.

As if they didn't have enough to fill their quota of Unfortunate Facts That Ruin The Happily Ever After.


	26. Comminatory

They reached the edge of the forest at a steady pace, following the evident trails that the naga had left in the landscape. As Radu had said, the trail led to a deserted town that stank of rot and gasoline, enhanced by the heat of the sun. Hung from a tree were a pair of komodo dragons with anthropomorphic traits. From his altitude, Michel could see beyond the city, and the abrupt end of Mahahanu's trail. Likely the naga had passed into the dream layer, but why was there not even a message left?

Below, Sheshe kicked a crowd control fence. "Looks like evacuations. I bet the organization was involved, but I could just as well bet on the military."

"Let's go to the town hall or a library," Radu said. "We could at least get a clue about what's going on in the world."

They found a library, of which Sheshe kicked the door open. Electricity was off and so was air conditioning, but Seira still sighed in relief when Michel carried her into the shadow of the building. He set her down on one of the chairs and watched with mild distaste as Radu fiddled with a computer to make it charged by magic song. The sisters didn't need much more of an excuse to shout, "It's show time!" and sing.

Michel didn't like their song and hated anything that reminded him of humans and their messy culture, but he had to admit Radu's method of blending both with the mundane computer was interesting. By the time the song was over, Radu had a small yellow sphere in her hand, pried open electric wires between her fingers and a grin on her face. The computer buzzed to life.

Mimi whistled. "Now that's an awesome trick! Say, sister Sheshe, why didn't we think of that?"

"You girls are powerhouses, but I'm afraid you lack the finesse for this sort of thing," Radu said smugly.

"Hey!"

"What is your thing anyway?" Sheshe asked. "Must be pretty good to not be noticed for so long, what with all those electronics."

"I used to call it hypnosis, but nowadays I prefer to call it _magical information management_." Having said that, Radu started humming. Her other hand rushed over the keyboard, opening site after site at a rate she couldn't possible read it all. Not without magic, at least.

The report she gave was grim. There was indeed a war in the Arabian Sea.

Lucia's revelation of magic had thrown off Yemen's joining of the Gulf Cooperation Council by forcing the genies of the area to get out into the open after a hunt began. Their borders did not match with those of the human countries and disputes flared up over properties of fossil fuels which the genies could control access to. Yemen wasn't the one of the poorest countries anymore when the genies revealed they had hidden a lot of fossil fuels to prevent their habitats from being disturbed. While initially hostile both over territorial and religious reasons, the genies had eventually allied with the government (which had involved proving willingness to cooperate and being physical creatures rather than spirits of evil). In return for cooperation, the genies wanted their own territories in exchange for letting drilling happen on their old ones. This meant moving into the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and head first into conflict with the mermaid separatists that had moved there after being driven from the reefs.

Amongst the multitude of similar problems in the world, this hadn't been a big deal to the media up until the point where Sara stepped in, tossed a nuclear submarine a few miles inland and had her people ransack it without being affected by radiation.

And then the world was looking and very, very scared. Nobody could even agree on who the submarine had actually belonged to — Yemen denied owning it, but Sara didn't care and neither did others — and fewer understood who Sara was and where Seira had gone or what Coco's dethronement meant. All they knew for certain was that mermaids apparently could flick away entire submarines by singing.

"Why _always_ my ocean?" Seira said shouted after having listened to the entirely story with an increasingly hateful expression. Michel wasn't used to seeing that on her and tried remembering what he knew of her ocean ... in a way, everything ran down to what Sara had done. Seira probably knew this just as well. She had been friendly enough to him about what he'd done, both long ago and recently, but she firmly asserted he hadn't been in control (he disagreed on this). That didn't have to count for Sara, who had been an adult when starting her plot. Seira's continued blackness wasn't just the net around her, he guess.

Meanwhile, the Black Beauty Sisters looked uncertain. They'd known there was a war, but little about all the political wires attached to it. He looked back at Seira and grew worried what this all meant for her. He had next to no idea about the nature of mermaids losing their color and so many different doom scenarios were announcing themselves.

Seira questioned Radu about the details, and soon Mimi and Sheshe was angling for news that would make their impending reign appear less complicated. Michel decided this was a good time to go do something else, like ... like ... right, he could see whether he found a trace of Ngalyod or bury those lynched creatures. Halfway through the door, he admitted to himself that he hated hearing reasons that tickled an imprisoned desire to wipe this planet clean of humans.

Throughout the town, there were signs of lynching. It wasn't all bodies tied to trees, sometimes there was only the lingering scent of magical blood. After circling for a while he landed at the tree where the dried out remnants hunt, which he cut down with a quick swish of his whips.

He wasn't exactly pyrokinetic, but with this heat it wasn't hard to put magic and dry wood together to start a fire. Felling trees wasn't exactly his thing either, so he broke some wood off a nearby fence. At one point Mimi and Sheshe joined him, complaining about Mahahanu taking so long and Radu and Seira having a boring conversation. After failing to send them to scout — too hot, they said — Michel ignored them while watching the fire. If the organization did come after them before time ran out, they wouldn't be able to move quick enough anyway, so he might just as well stay here, wait, and do his best not to burn down this filthy city.

They were found, but it wasn't the organization.

After maybe half an hour, the sun turned dim while the surrounding sky took on bright rainbow hues and the clouds turned to crystal.

"Sheshe, Mimi, get back to the others. This is Ngalyod, and Mahahanu is missing, that's not a good sign."

They turned to leave, but the ground broke open and spat forth freezing white fire, blocking their path. Michel just sighed and took out his flute. If it came down to a battle, he probably could handle this.

Within the colored sky, the light shaped a serpent with slender mouth and humanoid eyes. Michel faced Ngalyod evenly. This entity was one of the oldest creatures of the planet, aging as far back as the Dream Time in which life on this planet was created and there was no difference between physical world and spirit world.

The serpent stuck out a tongue and twisted its head upside down while looking at him, then at the Black Beauty Sisters.

"What did you do to this town?" Michel said said, some of his frustration unrestrained. "And where did you take Mahahanu?"

"This town, I gave them an ultimatum. Stop killing my people, or there will be no more water. They didn't stop. So I sent my children to save those I had sworn to protect," Ngalyod said with a hiss. "Are you going to object because you sympathize more with those who look like you?"

Michel shook his head. "No."

"Then why are you angry at me, angel? I can tell, your aura gives it away."

"You remind me of my past self." He crossed his arms. "Now answer my other question."

"Mahahanu is in the dream circuits, mind and body, so the latter may be cured before he dies."

"I assume there is a reason we're standing here talking and not joining him."

"You cannot guess?" Ngalyod turned its head towards the Black Beauty Sisters, hissing lowly.

"Actually, no. I haven't had much chance to catch up on translating my incomplete memories of the past few days. Enlighten me."

"You keep the company of murderers. I know Mahahanu rarely goes with Uchochikha, so I asked and disliked the answer. You see, no part of it included mental incapacity on behalf of the one who killed Uchochikha."

"Hey, he took a bite out of me and had killed and swallowed some of our people!" Sheshe shouted.

"A feeble defense when you are the one who provoked him by threatening the one he was to protect."

The cold fire burst higher and Michel unwound his flute into a bow, willing an arrow into existence. He didn't raise it yet, but held his hand ready.

"Are you sure you want to provoke me?" Ngalyod asked.

"Whatever they did, right now they work for me and I am as much a murderer as they are. I think I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't at least wait for a chance for those arrogant brat to figure out whether they've got remorse." He spun the arrow, but kept it aimed at the ground. "Now, all of that aside, the princess of the Indian Ocean is under a curse and needs to get him. She is still an ally to your matriarch, Kadru, so you—"

"Am by loyalty to Kadru in a position where I'd have to help her, I know. But that doesn't cancel out safety precautions."

"Alright, what do you want?" Sheshe asked.

"You two will drop your weapons," Ngalyod said, then facing Michel, it continued, "and you will give up whatever energy you gathered."

Michel frowned and didn't negate his weapon. "Why should I make myself defenseless when you haven't give me a reason to trust you? You go around threatening with that fire when you don't need to, you drive empty a town and what not else when you could have just taken your people to the dream layer."

Ngalyod seemed genuinely surprised, but Michel didn't buy into the relative expression of its face. What it said though had him do a double take.

"I would if I had been able to. For the past few days, incidentally the time you have been trapped by Mahahanu's words, the dream layer wasn't acting like it should for anyone who isn't a mermaid or coming out of one of those ruins."

That made absolutely no sense. If it was a lie, it was a total insult that he was expected to believe it. Mermaids weren't naturally aligned with the dream realms, and he had no special tie to it at all. But he would have said a similar thing about any magical field that made mermaids benevolent and trusting in the wrong way. He could spare some doubt for this, and assume that Ngalyod wasn't prone to radical retribution unless forced into the position.

"Mimi, Sheshe, drop your guns."

"What? You're going to trust him?"

He nodded. "For now. If what they say is true, then we don't have to expect randomly being fried as we go along."

Grudgingly, they obliged. The metal clattered on the pavement.

Michel created two more arrows, charged them, and kept his flute in the form of a bow, a safety measure. Then he spread his wings wide, and with a rush invisible for anyone else, the souls escaped and took along their energy.

The rainbow serpent nodded. "Well then. Retrieve the princess and your other servant. We will pass through Oroboros."

**· · · · · · ·**

Within the coils of Jormungandr lay the earth, and within Oroboros itself lay a road said to be in line with the wheel of fate. Walls of flesh surrounded them at every side as they walked over a terribly mismatched ethereal path. It was less of a creature and more of a spirit construct, the mind behind this was Jormungandr, another of Kadru's descendants.

Michel was out of power, but still had magic to perform. He kept his bow and arrows ready, so Sheshe had carried Seira into the dream circuit after complaining about how she wouldn't be able to run like this. Once Seira was in, the world was surreal enough for her to move on her tail.

All the way Ngalyod's ghosting form hovered around them, playing guard against them and for them. It even followed them up to the door of Kadru's castle, once they were outside of Oroboros. Sheshe picked Seira up again, not complaining this time. Seira suspected this had something to do with her being the only one not in some sort of disfavor with the serpents; what she'd been told when Michel came to get her and Radu was worrying. The nagas were honorable, but this went both ways.

The castle in question wasn't unlike the Ancient's ruins: rough, rock walls set in lingering energy, yet so different. It was a carnival of colors in the form of bead curtains, lamps, and painted sculptures, thriving with life. Serpentine monsters and daemons were all over, small snakes quickly hiding into jars and large humanoid ones in colorful robes that stuck out a snake tongue to taste the air. Some of these wore modern clothing, while others were dressed like in bygone times. Between this vivid mass, her eyes first passed over Kadru on her modest throne.

The old ex-Ancient was seated on a small cushion, surrounded by a many headed serpent so large she was dwarfed as an ant before a human. Her legs were crossed and her eyes closed as she slowly drank her tea, those around her rarely acknowledging her ... at least not in a way Seira could see. Aware of heat and scent as snakes were, there might be a complex reverence paid without her ever noticing.

When Kadru looked up and spotted her visitors, Ngalyod moved back. Kadru's eyes opened wide, and at the same time every head in the hall whipped towards them. Kadru's gaze went right past Michel and Radu, settling on the Mimi and Sheshe. Seira felt like she was being glared at herself.

Kadru set down her tea and stood up. The serpents around them started tightening ranks till the way they had come was shut off.

"So, here are the ones who killed one of my best children out of spite," she said sharply.

Sheshe set down Seira on the ground and said defiantly, "So I am."

"Wait, it is my fault!" Radu said quickly. She stepped before Kadru and bowed down. "In order to protect my lord, I had to take their memories of him. Yet it is beyond my power to take emotions, and so I have to give them new memories to match those emotions, let they grew curious out what is missing. If they asked questions, it would lead our enemy on our trail."

"And those new memories had to involve my children why exactly?"

Radu threw a glance at Michel, who didn't hesitate to say, "I killed and ate them once."

Kadru just raised an eyebrow, which Seira was sure was a deliberate attempt at mimicking human behavior. That at least was a positive sign.

"You kill and eat sapients," the old one said flatly. "I presume this was during one of those insanity phases that my Mahahanu told me about."

Michel nodded. Seira thought he should have added that it wasn't voluntary.

"Yet that didn't turn Seira or anyone else towards wanton murder against winged creatures," Kadru said.

"Excuse me, but it's not that simple!" Seira suddenly called and she pushed herself next to Radu. "Matriarch of serpents, if you will allow, may I relate the story?"

"What would you be able to tell me that is different?"

"I could tell you what I need them for, what I know from having spent time with them within the same soul, and what I know of the power and damage of memory manipulation. I believe I have a pretty strong case for at least giving them a chance to prove they won't again resort to shooting anyone for emotional reasons."

"You may. Speak."

Seira tried to keep it brief, but Kadru wanted to know every detail. What exactly this new Michel was. How memory theft worked. What they knew about the organization. Why she was so sure that the Black Beauty Sisters wouldn't be wantonly slaughtering nagas in the future. What Seira planned to do about the war. Whether they knew anything about the recent disturbances to the dream layer. Whether it was true that Mimi and Sheshe had ignored direct orders not to kill anyone. And most of all, the no longer hypothetical complacency field.

The nagas had suspected for a while that there was something that kept the mermaid society so uniform and optimistic without ever truly changing, but nothing so thorough. They had held the belief that the former Aqua Regina had simply been an expert at keeping her people in line.

All the while, Kadru avoided the direct topic of what they would do regarding Radu, Sheshe and Mimi. Radu didn't look up at all while Sheshe held a scared Mimi close, glaring anyone who came too close. Michel still had his weapon ready.

When the last question was answered to Kadru's satisfaction, the old matriarch sat down again.

"Michel, do you know why Fuku has kept you distant from me and my court?"

"He told me you had no power that could help me."

"No. I am an Ancient too, albeit I had to sacrifice my wings and power to change my form for the new world. It wasn't taken kindly by my kin who believed their emperor would revert Gaia's decision," Kadru said. "While it is not easy, I would have been able to contact my sister, Vinata, who has passed on along with the others. Now, I want you to lend me your word so we may summon her. I have not seen her in a time too long."

Michel nodded. "What must I do?"

"Play your flute in the way you make yourself heard within minds."

Michel set the flute to his lips, producing a calm song that did not match the mood he was apparently in. Kadru started chanting, and Radu felt the power of the song mingling with the flute's tones. The serpents fanned out back to the walls, leaving the center of the hall almost empty. A light appeared there as the song grew stronger, with each note gaining strength and shape.

The misty form unfolded two wings of brown, white and cream. Her skin was as brown as that of Kadru and her hair a dark purple, her features drawing into a smile when she saw Kadru. She might be what Kadru had looked like if the world had not worn her down.

"Sister ..."

Vinata gave a quick bow towards Michel, then went to her sister, holding out her hands. Kadru took them easily, despite Vinata not being corporeal.

"It's been too long. Do you still not regret letting your wings go in favor of scales?"

"There's a lot of things I regret, but this isn't it."

"Really?"

"So, how badly do you and the others regret _him_?" Kadru said, nodding at Michel.

"Oh, they have told you," Vinata said with a bit of shame.

"Indeed they have. Now, before we get all mushy and catch up, you need to do something. You're going to get your descendants into line, and you're going to have them take orders of Michel. I don't want him running around with his only soldiers being those disobedient anglerfish. Your son has bred a dangerous clan, but at least he's true to his word."

Vinata's eyes widened. "May I ask why Michel needs soldiers?"

"Because there is something or someone awfully interested in keeping that child contained and powerless, and this makes a startling number of creatures unable to interact with the dream circuits. Obviously, we are going to do the opposite and help him. I may not like some of the company he is keeping, but it's better than what ever organization or deity goes round messing with our free will."

Vinata nodded, yet was looking far less stoic and more impatient than Kadru. Seira guessed she didn't have the temporal resilience that Kadru would have gotten from millions of years in the physical realm, where change was so easy. Vinata could be as frozen as Seira herself had been during the years since her birth and until learning of life through Lucia. It was with nearly childlike impatience that she went through the next order of events.

First she instructed Michel on loosening the power of the net that kept Seira's power sealed, and suggested it stay on if it really helped against the complacency field. For this he used tiny gold rings around the net that glowed when Seira used her power, which she did right away to manifest her phone and call Lucia. When Lucia didn't answer she tried Michal, but that number was met with equal silence. Vinata suggested she just stop trying to call others, since they might be suspect to the complacency field.

Seira noted Vinata was taking said field quite for granted, and when asked about it Vinata readily admitted that she and the other Ancients had been somewhat aware of it, then used some type of spell to cancel out Michel's subsequent yelling. When he noticed he achieved nothing, he resorted to viciously glaring at her, which Vinata apparently thought was funny.

Vinata didn't know much news about the field save that it most likely was the former Aqua Regina, Thalassa, who had set it into motion. The Ancients had drawn their conclusion by simple observation from afar. While they disagreed, it hadn't worried them too much. Seira could hardly believe what she heard and Michel looked utterly stunned. Radu had a twitchy eye. Only the Black Beauty Sisters thought it was typical for them to not mention this.

Vinata went on to raise a good point. Even if they would be able to shut down this field by confronting Thalassa, it would just result in a divided mermaid society which had zero experience with things like political factions, economic inequality, or even how to handle someone with a severely different opinion. There would be a lot like Sara, unable reality crashing down on them and swinging across the event horizon. As it was, the relative unity of the mermaid kingdom was the only thing they had ahead of the human realms, and so telling the very anti-manipulation opinionated Michel about it was asking for an explosion.

"Michel, when I return sound to you, are you going to explode?"

He shook his head, though he looked like he would anyway, and Vinata removed the silence spell.

"Why did you even send me down if I wasn't supposed to 'explode' anything?"

"Well, Yehariel was perhaps a little premature with that. She was one of the many who were worried over those unexplainable fragments of information that were leaking from the world and she doubtlessly hoped you would find out something. That, and you really were too much of an angsty disaster. We all agreed on that."

Mimi and Sheshe started madly snickering at this part, and Vinata added with a very restrained laugh that hadn't worked out so wonderfully. Kadru hit her sister on the arm, muttered something about having been gone from life too long and walked away. To one of her children, she called to find out where the garudas had gone.

"What will happen now?" Seira asked Vinata, who was surprisingly cradling her arm.

"We stop your Arabian war, then I will continue to investigate the dream layer from down here, provided my sister can continue anchoring me."

"What about Radu, Mimi and Sheshe?"

"My sister seems in a good mood. I think you and Michel can keep them with you," she said. "On a sidenote, nice to meet you, princess."

Vinata gave Radu a friendly nod, tapped an irritated Michel on the shoulder, and that was all she had to spare for people not her sister. She turned hazy and floated after her sister, who vanished into another hall.

The serpents around relaxed, no longer paying attention to the small group. Michel dematerialized the arrows and turned the bow back into a flute. With a curt, "I'll meet you later," to Seira, he followed the two sisters along with Radu. Mimi and Sheshe got a room assigned to wait in, or perhaps a cell.

Seira realized she had yet to find out how Mahahanu was doing, so she asked the next serpent that passed by. She was told that it might take a while before the garudas were found, so until then she could visit. Mahahanu wasn't awake, and oddly enough, not all that much smaller than before. She stayed with him till he woke.


	27. Contemplation

Seira couldn't sleep and tried phoning Michal and Lucia. She even tried Hippo, but only got a voice message option. Radu dropped by once to thank her for helping her out in front of Kadru, and to say a little more about the battle. Michel wasn't mentioned. Then she killed some time looking at all the unique lamps in this hall and the engravings on pillars and the walls, swimming a little through the shallow water, and testing the newfound flexibility the star net gave her.

When Mahahanu woke up, she was there to greet him.

"Do you feel better?"

"Well enough. Once I've returned to my ordinary size, I will likely be healed in the go."

"Why haven't they done so yet?"

"The sea staff is a powerful tool, like the sky staff, crafted from the wheels of fate themselves. Their spells are not easily undone, not even by Ancients."

"I see ... this is going to be a problem in the case of the Black Beauty Sisters, isn't it? They are partially responsible for our capture ..."

"It depends on what I will say. Do you want them out of the way?"

She wished he hadn't been so blunt about it, but at the same time, the answer was easy.

"I admit that it would be easier for me if I'd just let the nagas imprison them, given the price they asked for getting me back my pearl. But if I just stay silent because it's easy, not because it's right ... well," She waved a hand at the air. "I'm sure I don't need to explain that. So, what will you say?"

"The red one killed my friend, but she also saved my life. If my injuries hadn't been tended to when they did, I would have bled to death. I'm willing to blame the former act on side effects of mental manipulation. I've witnessed the results of that first hand on another person, after all."

"I'm glad for that, because unless I find a way to weasel out of this, they'll be neighbors of my kingdom. There will have to be negotiations, and I'd hate for you to expect murder from them every time we meet."

"That will not be a problem either way, since I won't be there."

"You won't?"

"Now that Michel will be recruiting the garudas, my matriarch has deemed my services no longer needed."

"I see. Well, I guess I'll say goodbye today. May you fare well, and I regret that you had to suffer loss due to me."

He said nothing in return, save a simple, "Then I will bid you fare well too and do so now, I believe I am well enough to move home now."

A few other nagas crept into the hall, coming from holes in the ceiling. Using an elaborate wheel mechanism, they opened a round gate for Mahahanu. From behind came the sound of a river.

"Mahahanu, could you do me one last favor?" Seira asked just before he plunged in.

"Yes?"

"You'll pass by Kadru?"

"Yes."

"If you see Michel on the way out, can you send him here? We'll need to talk about what will happen, but he seems intent on staying away."

Mahahanu nodded, the lower face smiling. "Of course. Fare well, princess."

The naga dissipated, and she hoped it wouldn't be permanently. For someone who had been so loyal, she really hadn't done much to get to know either him or his deceased friend. It just never had come to mind to ask and befriend them, even if she could otherwise be kind to them.

Realizing this, she starting running past a mental list of non-human creatures in her life whom she had unwittingly been treating as lesser than humanoid sapients. She came up with an unsettlingly large list. Sea monks and sea serpents whom had helped rebuild her kingdom, small clusters of non-sapient creatures ...

She startled when Michel suddenly stood aside of her.

"I won't get close to you again if you don't want me to," he said, waiting for permission to sit down.

"It's okay, I haven't become allergic to your presence. You can sit," she said, indicating a rock that jutted out of one of the pillars. It had just enough room for Michel's wings to be folded comfortably behind him, once he pushed a few lanterns aside.

He tentatively sat down, crossed his legs and looked at her. "You wanted to talk?"

"Yes."

"First, what happened to those people ... you know, just recently ... are they alright?"

"I kept some of their souls for a while, if that's what you mean. I released them when Ngalyod demanded I depower. Because I was annoyed with Ngalyod, I released them right into their layer to charge up their energy for the journey."

"Right," she said tensely, which wasn't lost on him.

"Seira, if you need to say something, you can do so. I doubt there's much you could say to make me feel more disgusted with myself."

There was in fact a lot she wanted to say to him. A small, unreasonable part of her was angry she'd been pushed towards him romantically, another irritated at the idea of being an an emotional support pillar, and most of all ...

He ate people.

She wasn't seven anymore, she wasn't psychically linked to him and she wasn't under the influence of a love enforcing magic.

He _ate people_.

"I ... I-I'll be honest, I'm revolted by what you do when your instincts take over. I can put it aside of me, but I won't _forget_ so easily." He looked pained by her words, but it had to be said. She took a moment to choose her next words, dwelling on what bothered her the most about this situation. That destiny said this was the person she was supposed to be with. "It's ... Why are you in love with me anyway?"

"I don't know," Michel said after a tense silence, obviously thrown off. "Doctor Amagi always told me to ignore my 'pointless' curiosity and only focus on the 'rightful wrath' that led my mission. There was no room for anything else, not even questions."

"And then a decade in a layer of existence where you had no hormones," Seira added with a wry smile, then a sigh. He frowned at that. "I'm sorry, I've been there too. I should know better than to ask this," she said.

"If we are to be honest right now, then I'll be honest too : yes, you should know better. That hunger is still there and I can barely keep it contained," he said harshly. "I can't even understand why that feeling is a part of me, let alone why I feel all the other things, I— " He faltered, then continued in a softer voice. "At least don't blame the other Ancients, Seira. They helped me as well as they could."

"Yet they sent you down here anyway."

"Seira, it's not like that. It's —"

"Yes, it is! My species is brainwashed, the world is in chaos and the Ancients kept you up there for ten years! The world wasn't at chaos back then, but at the very least me and Michal could have used the help! I'm sick of all of this! Of good people not doing anything when they should! Of you holding back that drive and never learning to control it!"

"What?" Michel sounded much like in his indignant ruler period.

"I saw it myself. They only took your image and sound memories, not your muscle memory or emotive memory. You have some rooted aversion to ... to ... you know what. You could learn to combine that with those instincts more."

"And how was I supposed to learn that?" he snapped. "I can't safely let that monster out, nor did I have much chance up there!"

"No inclination either! For that or other things!"

He stared at her, somehow hurt and offended simultaneously. "You have a civil war in your kingdom because you hesitated too long with ...whatever it was. You didn't exactly ask anyone for help."

"Help? From whom? You have more people who love you for less deserving reasons than I have, yet you let your loneliness get the better of you anyway. I didn't have anyone who knew how to deal with a rebellious country!"

"Your biggest wish used to be shopping with your friends. Maybe you'd find some mentors if you looked elsewhere!"

"Who told you that?"

"Michal."

"Well, that's true. I didn't know any better. Same excuse as you have."

"Except I tried to unleash the end of the world because of it." And so he was right back to loathing himself. If anything, Michel seemed even less cut out for hating others than he was back then. This wasn't what Seira wanted to provoke.

"And you're an idiot, but at least you admitted that. I think. When you said you regretted not having noticed I was there to help you, did that really mean you also regret having nearly destroyed the world?"

His wings flared out and he stood up. The surrounding trembled, but Seira only looked up defiantly and said, "I wonder whether all those people were right, when they said you never had remorse over the world, only yourself."

"That's ridiculous, and you know it! Why are you trying to antagonize me now? I don't need this!"

Seira just smiled up at him. "Yes you do. Go on, get angry."

"Oh? Why the abyss would I _need_ this?" he shouted. "You should know what I can be!"

"You need it because gentleness obviously isn't helping you control your hunger. Try letting a little out and get to know the monster," Seira said. "I can't deal with a kind Michel who can turn into an bloodthirsty monster at a whim, but there's room for a bloodthirsty monster who knows when to kill and when to _stop_."

She didn't let go of his gaze, it was him who looked away first.

"Fuku already messed enough with me, I don't need you doing it too," he finally said, but his voice was less loud now. He sank back to the ground. "This is what you become like without supernaturally induced love?"

Seira nodded curtly. "Apparently."

"You're awful."

"Apparently." She hid her eyes behind a hand. "I don't understand myself either, okay? I'm angry at everything and I don't know whom I should trust ... everyone is ... "

"~ _I'm surrounded by idiots and psych ward cases and extremists._ ~"

She frowned at the blunt thought, then went with it. Michel had sat back down and wasn't looking at her anymore, but she kept looking at him. She wanted to be able to trust him. The rational side of her mind tried to assure her it was alright, and for good reason. Everything else screamed that he would eat her again and this time, she had a body. It would hurt. An involuntary shiver ran over her back. Michel must have noticed from the corner of his eyes, since he flinched. He'd know she wasn't cold.

She clenched her teeth together, but her shoulders started to shake. No, she wouldn't cry, but her efforts to stop it showed nonetheless. Memories of eleven years ago mixed with those of the past few days and bore up a trauma she had never been allowed to deal with. After all, there were no mermaid songs about coping.

"You can cry here," Michel said gently. "I won't call it weakness." He had a good guess at that, at least.

"And being born with a title doesn't make me a princess or you an emperor," she said through sobs that she still held back. Not now, there was a war. "If it did, we'd be doing more than just stating the obvious."

Sniffling a few times, she collected her thoughts. Right now, it was important that Sara was stopped. Everything else could wait, no matter how demanding these emotions were.

"Michel, listen to me. The world is in trouble and we are the ones who hold most of the powers _and_ answers to help. We need to work together, but that's not going to work if we keep playing emotional support stick to each other. No fairytale prince and princess anymore, but politicians and warriors. Will you help me?"

He nodded, and with a surprised voice he said, "I already am. You're not going to talk me out of it?"

"I don't particularly feel like it, no."

"You never asked me to get involved with your kingdom, why are you fine with it now?"

She shrugged. "Perhaps it's the absence of the complacency field. Before, dragging you into my political mess seems so ... well, unromantic. I have to admit I liked the idea of you on that island and us only having small adventures like in India and other places. In retrospect, if I had gotten you involved much earlier, it would not have been quite _nice_ to you or _pleasant_ for me, but certain things would have gone very differently. Better, maybe."

"We can't know how it would have unfolded, maybe it would have been worse. Either way, yes, I will help you," He stood up, hesitant, then started to walk away. "I'll go see if they located the garudas already."

She smiled weakly, knowing it probably wouldn't have been. If only Lucia hadn't felt so alone in what she wanted to achieve. Kaito, herself, everyone else ... too passive. Perhaps by choice. The separatists sure had been able to resist the effect fairly early on, so it wasn't impossible to reject it without crazy side effects or turning black. She decided she would talk to them, and it would be different this time.

**· · · · · · ·**

The last thing he wanted was to play emperor with an army. Kadru and Vinata had pretty much made the decision for him and seemed every bit intent on assuming he'd go along. They were right, though, he would, especially now he had a Seira shaped reason. Idealized affection apparently didn't go away so easily when the person stopped being wonderfully nice.

Given what he had heard about the war — he had a decent idea what submarines and missiles were — they'd need all the help they could get. And this time, he wasn't being told anything about caution and making sure he himself was absolutely safe and hidden. Such a ridiculous thing anyway, given all his power. Granted, waning power, now he had neither souls nor halo to recharge. Some day, he would have to figure out how to directly tap into earth's energies, not needing souls as a conductor.

For now, he'd just have to hold out till Vinata got a word with her son.

The garudas had gathered in the Himalaya, in a valley as far from human civilization as possible. Michel was at the peek of a mountain, downwind and covered by the remnants of early morning as he observed them. This wasn't the entire flock, just a few hundred, but enough to be a problem. Now they did not have to hide anymore, they had started to keep herds of yak for food, which appeared to be dwindling already. He quietly crossed the mountain, swooping into the valley surrounded by the telltale burst of light he had not used in years. Vinata's ethereal form was at his side, invisible to anyone but him.

There was a moon and little clouds, so at first his white form did not stand out so much against the snow, and he was up wind, but that did not help for long. The garudas had sharp eyes. When they saw him, Garuda cried out and the entire flock rose to the sky.

Michel unrolled the whips from his flute but didn't strike just yet, waiting to see whether they would give him a chance to talk first.

"What do you want?" Garuda bellowed.

Michel stopped a little under a hundred meter from the flock, which was now entirely in combat mode, a lot of razor sharp claws ready to dive in.

"I have a proposal," he said. It almost felt like ten years ago, when he was trying to win allies for his world conquest.

"What kind of proposal?"

"Your mother is here and would like to talk to you. All you have to do is let me place a magic item on you," he said, manifesting a ring that he twirled around his finger.

"My mother is dead. How would she need you to talk to me?"

Michel raised an eyebrow and looked sideways at Vinata.

"After a few million years, do you really expect his memories to work right? He has no way of contacting us. Knowing him, he convinced himself it's impossible."

"Well? Nothing to say now?" Garuda called.

Before the flock had a chance to dive at Michel, he morphed his flute into a bow and took aim at Garuda.

"Vinata, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to hurt your son a little."

"If it _must_ be," she said, a little vexed.

The arrow split in five parts as soon as it left his fingers. While Garuda was fast, he would not fast enough to dodge his kin that moved out of the just as quickly. One arrow struck him in the wing, causing him to pummel to the ground. He managed to land on his feet and screeched in anger, turned to glare at Michel and ... he saw his mother.

"W-what?"

The flock didn't catch on, save for two others than had been hit by the separated arrows. Within seconds, Michel was surrounded by garudas on all fronts. He beat off the first dozen with ease, but they were persistent and supernatural enemies, soon his energy started depleting.

At this moment, he recalled what Seira said. She could deal with a monster who knew how to stop... he was in control now, barely at the border of the hunger. He let the next garuda get close, ripped off a wing and shot up to higher air, folding two wings across himself as he quickly devoured the flesh. The act also had the side effect of making the others hesitant to attack him. While it hardly was worth noting in technicalities, it sure _looked_ dangerous.

A few more brave rose up to attack, so he spread his wings wide and unleashed five whips. Through the flock he saw Vinata before her son, who was backing off. _Great_ time for denial, he grumbled to himself, and flew higher on the little new energy he'd gotten.

"Stop!" Garuda's voice finally came after too long.

The flock obeyed, turning a weary eye to their leader.

"He wasn't lying," Garuda said in a defeated voice, which still sounded strong through the magic that made it heard. "All of you, back off. He is our ally."

"That took you long enough," Michel said when he landed, wiped some blood off his face. "I lost quite a bit of power on this pointless fight."

Garuda looked at him with the impenetrable eagle gaze, silent, until Vinata demonstratively turned and glared at him.

"Sorry about that," Garuda grumbled, then pointed at the arrow through his wings. "That's pointless too. Get it out."

Without much care, Michel janked free the arrow. He changed it into a ring and placed it around Garuda's arm, then started manifesting more for the rest of the flock. To Vinata he gave a nod, and she carried on to explain what was to be done. Michel went round handing out the rings, and one by one the flock could see Vinata.

Some were downright happy, but many others shameful. A few even bowed their heads to the ground, couldn't look at her as they whispered apologies. Especially the knowledge that while up, the Ancients still had a method to see what happened on earth and Vinata made no secret what she thought of their behavior. It curiously avoided the eating of sapients, though she hated when they killed them for that purpose.

Then Vinata relayed the plan in simple terms. They would work as Michel's army, and his goals currently consisted of aiding the orange princess in restoring peace to her kingdom. For this, they would need to end a war between an ex-princess and her Panthalassan followers versus the humans of the Arabian shores.

Their simultaneous objective was to retrieve Michal Amagi, who appeared to be held back somehow by the Panthalassans for unknown reasons. This was the person who could recreate the halos that would feed Michel power, and through that, the garudas as well. So they better be careful.

Garuda agreed unconditionally, his eyes never leaving his mother. His entire pose became more and more submissive as he went on, as if starting to truly recall who she was. What he had become wouldn't make her proud, but Michel knew he didn't have to worry over that. He himself had done worse and was still forgiven.

Once his round was done, he rejoined the core of the flock. Barely he was there or Garuda turned him.

"Do you intend to claim the throne of the old emperor?" The question wasn't with an undertone of suspicion or hope, just an inquiry after fact. Vinata on the other hand had a strong opinion and a poor method of hiding. Certain Ancients were a little too clingy to the idea Michel could become like the old emperor, she apparently was one of them. He had never gotten to know her that well, so that was slightly inconvenient news.

"I can't take a throne that doesn't exist."

Vinata made a show of sighing in disappointment, even though she didn't need to breathe.

Michel made a show of looking away, his eyes settling on the herd of yaks. "What about them?"

"I suppose we won't need these anymore," Garuda said. He nodded at the others, who looked doubtful.

"My mother, the ancestor of all of you, would not lie to us," he said with absolute certainty. "We will get the power we need, as she and this ... not yet emperor promise."

The rest was less confident, but they followed the order and killed the yaks, starting a small feast. Michel waited impatiently.

"You need the energy too," Vinata said, laying a translucent hand on his shoulder. "You didn't mind eating a wing earlier."

"I'm not—"

"Trying to make it a habit? You'll need a few more repeats for that to happen."

 _Fine_. He'd come this far anyway. Michel uncrossed his arms.

"Can you spare a few for me?"


	28. Strategy

According to Gackto, this was no different than him giving gentle Licht a mental push to slap sense back into Kaito, both literary and figuratively.

According to Michal, this was getting awfully close to abduction. Gackto never would have gotten this much control over her if not for her swamped mind at the time, but here she was, directing his war efforts without even having full information of what went on. In theory she wasn't opposed to getting these submarines away from the local mermaids, but their methods? Needlessly fatal. She couldn't even convince them of something less destructive on base of how this was only going to anger the world more.

He was using her to direct the war effort of his Panthalassans and Dark Lovers, with the intent to drive back a small flock of submarines. Now, the orange separatists had scattered and this was long past the point of protecting citizens. This was throwing back an invasion at a point where borders changed with the tides.

The conflict consisted of a variety of nuclear submarines from Yemen, of all places. The subs probably had belonged to Iran, but it was Yemen where they had found a genie whose wishes happened to involve a certain degree of teleportation. She was fuzzy on the exact details, Gackto didn't even care who all the other subs belonged to. There might be Americans, other countries... no way to tell, since Sara did not care and thus Gackto didn't. The two Dark Lovers at her side even less so.

The water below had a red tint, obscuring the shape of the Leviathan that she should have been able to see. He had her look up again, at the ships in the area. Some American, some Yemenic, all in chaos under a brightening dawn sky. They'd been at this for hours, and though Michal did not physically tire thanks to her halo, her mind was still recovering from having all Michel's memories dumped into it. She didn't have much room to counteract Gackto when he wanted her to do anything, not yet.

She was drifting on the back of the a small domesticated whale in the middle of a stormy sky that Izul had created, who was working her dragons in excellent tandem with Maria's power of ice and wind. Below, the Panthalassans were within the waves, intercepting missiles into Dream Circuits that Sara created. Sometimes, they were not quick enough and an explosion took them out. The subsequent shock wave could be damaged, so she and the other two stayed above the water for now.

Occasionally, Gackto through Michal called an order to them and they would flock out or congregate. Their enemy was a small swarm of submarines that Gackto didn't care to identify, Sara wanted them gone so that was what happened. The task of the Panthalassans was to use their magic to redirect missiles, which Maria and Izul would destroy at a safe distance ... preferably near other submarines. They picked one target every time, cleared the area and let the Leviathan assault. Now that Sara sang with the other three Dark Lovers in Yuri's stead, the Leviathan had enough power to actually tackle a submarine and win, but it was left vulnerable to other attacks in the meantime.

With Izul's storm as it was, nobody immediately noticed when the sky darkened even more. It was the sudden feeling she was being looked at from above and recognizing herself.

Maria and Izul didn't even look up until the light broke from the clouds. There appeared Michel, radiating, six winged and garudas bursting from out of his feathers. They filled the sky, more impressive by power of illusion, she knew, but now how he had acquired their service.

Gackto's response was adequately summed up with, "Eh, what?" in a fitting companion to Michal's, " _Of course_ ". She didn't let him know the garudas had illusionary power, let him be overwhelmed.

Michel manifested his arrow and aimed an arrow, smirking, and shot it right past Michal. In the deep, a missile exploded. The garudas kept filled the sky, bringing along their darkness. Michel looked eyes with Michal, and for a second she could see through his eyes without focusing on channeling. He saw her and Gackto in her mind, and she saw him and his intentions. He was here not to win the war both to stop it.

The humans on the ships and below see saw a new enemy, missiles started emerging by the dozen. Making an entrance with what amounted to an army of darkness was perhaps not the best idea, but Michel just grinned. A number of the garudas manifested bows and took their aim, while Michel descended before Michal and placed a hand on her forehead, covering the glowing Panthalassa cross.

Within her mind, he came face to face with Gackto, who was losing his influence.

"Just what do you think you are doing?" Michel hollered on a mental level.

Gackto remained calm and said, "Protecting the orange kingdom. Off course, now you are back ... may I assume that Seira is with you?"

"She is, now get out!"

"Off course. I'm certain Sara will like to hear this. My apologies for having borrowed Michal. I would have retreated sooner if I'd know you were coming, but Michal wouldn't look."

"You weren't exactly acting trustworthy," Michal countered. "And we can't actually exchange conscious thoughts, just feelings."

"I suppose I wasn't," Gackto said, not sounding guilty at all. He did the mental equivalent of a gracious bow and removed himself from Michal's mind. The instant Gackto was out, Michal reached up to her halo and tore it in half, creating two. They were less solid than they ought to be, but it would do the job. Michel had back up, apparently.

He'd had to explain everything later. Michal stood up, unsteady as the whale wasn't under control anymore and started submerging.

"You two, cease action and retreat!" Michal called to Maria and Izul, who were looking at Michel in confusion.

"What? Where did Gackto's command go?" Maria asked.

Crap, they noticed he was gone. Off course he'd leave without calling them back.

"Something is wrong, let's keep going!" Izul shouted. The two of them submerged.

Michal promptly dropped into the sea, Michel dove after her. Barely were they below water, or something fired at them. Michal was starting to wonder when these people going to run out of ammunition.

Michel intercepted the missile just before impact, grabbing it with his whips and pulling it off course. With full power, he threw it up in the air, morphed his flute into a bow and shot it. The missile exploded in the safe heights of the sky, and the garudas closed the gap with their darkness.

"I can't believe you got them to work for you," Michal muttered.

"Yeah, he's been hiring!" Michal turned to see the Black Beauty Sisters, as well as Lady Bat.

"Michal, what exactly is going on here? What are we fight?" Michel asked.

She explained, tripping on words as she went, the nature of the conflict. While she had little idea who was who right now, there were Americans, Yemenites, possible a few other countries, and a lot of submarines that were stolen. None of them had contained nuclear warheads as of yet, fortunately.

Before they could even consider strategy, something big emerged from the dark sea and moved past them, leaving a stream of blood in its wake.

"Oh, and they set the Leviathan to kill. Sara uses her dream circuits to take out the nuclear reactors from submarines that have them, and the people inside are left."

He didn't need to know more. Michel shot after the leviathan, spun an arrow and shot. The massive creature only slowed down a little, but after a second, it turned its attention to Michel, who drove it closer to the surface.

Michal took Lady Bat by the arm, noticing the vampire was injured and not so mobile under water. With the Black Beauty Sisters, they moved away from the battle. Behind them, something big impacted with the water and the Leviathan roared. Looking across her back, Michal saw massive claws and thickening red in the water. Garuda and his kin were clawing at the Leviathan, hauling it out of the water. Through Michel, she was thinly aware of 'eating' applying here.

"So what are we going to do?" Mimi asked.

"The new plan is to stop the battle, not to win it for any side." Michal looked around, spotting more submarines moving in. "You know, I'm curious what would happen if we power one of these nice little Tomahawks with Voice In The Dark."

Radu snapped the fingers of her free hand and pointed at the nearest sub. "Alright. Ladies, we're going to take that submarine."

"We can't control a submarine," Michal said, letting her go and no longer swimming. "Even if Seira gets us in — where is she anyway? — we wouldn't know what to do with it! I meant we could hijack a missile by song, not a whole sub."

"Seira's gone to disturb the song of Sara, she should be dealing with breaking Izul and Maria's elemental powers too. Now, Michel always told me you're a quick learner."

"I can't work miracles! I can hardly process every day life, I'd be a vegetable if it weren't for my lego genetics."

"I'll be your spare brain," Radu said confidently. "My skill lies in hypnosis and memory theft. I've been _made_ for handling excesses of information."

That was a tempting idea. What would she be like if her brain had enough pathways ... ?

"Okay," she said simply.

Lady Bat pulled out a phone from somewhere. "Seira, can you create a steady enough dream circuit into moving spaces?"

"Technically, I do that everytime since earth is in constant motion. So yes, I can, but since I use the earthmagnetic fields as anchor, I might not have the circuit move quick enough. It's safest if you'd get out as quickly as possible."

"Will do, princess."

It took a moment, during which the illusionary darkness clustered close around them to protect them from enemies. When one of Seira's paths appeared, they stepped on. The distance was so short they only needed to rise a few steps, wait, and out again. Radu unfolded her wings and pulled everyone along into a tiny bunk room. The submarine's movement still meant they slammed into a wall the moment they were free.

Radu winced. "My wings just barely healed," she said through gritted teeth while pushing Sheshe off her wing.

An heard an alarm go off. Figured that someone had found a way to detect dream circuits, or received the magic from someone else.

"What now?" Mimi asked.

"We take the first memories of who ever we run across, then head to the ... whatever the control room is called on a sub," Radu said.

They didn't need to look long. Barely had they stepped out of the bunk or there was a soldier up for grabs. Sheshe grabbed the man's arm and twisted it behind his back while Mimi knocked him on the back of the head, then claimed his gun. Radu stepped up and started singing softly, placing her hands aside of his head and closing her eyes.

"Done," she said a few seconds later. "Michal, whenever you are ready."

The Black Beauty Sisters put their new guns in their belts and pulled the old ones, likely since they'd be able to operate the familiar better.

"Controls are below that little tower thing, right?" Sheshe asked. "And we're at the cabins?"

"Yes, those are—"

"Judging by water movement around us, that'll be backway." Sheshe intoned the gun and exploded the door. When Radu gave them an incredulous look and was about to speak, Mimi said cheerfully, "Could be people behind it. They'll be less bothersome now."

The two stepped through the door, dealt with some humans not quite on the ground and exploded some more things for convenient debris. They themselves weren't hurt by what they magic caused, so happily humming they strolled ahead. Nobody died, for as far as Michal could tell when she and Radu followed, but many might end up missing eyes, fingers and ears. Glass and iron, curtsy of exploded guns, had done most of the work. They made it through the control room quick enough.

The grabbed whatever human was closest to the controls, after which Radu took their memories of how to pilot, and for safety measures, their memories of how to shoot a gun. They'd still have their muscle memory, but they'd be missing some.

Michal took the seat before the control panel, a two sided thing that hardly looked as sleek as movies made super weapons look. The sisters locked the doors and complained about the tiny space and lack of acoustics, but when they started singing, it hardly mattered. _Voice In The Dark_ forced power into the very walls and Michal almost grew giddy at the prospect of using it. Almost, on behalf of the geeky side of her mind, but she wasn't sure whether she could really do this without killing anyone.

Radu came to stand aside of her, humming along her own words to their tune as she laid her fingers on Michal's halo. The effect was so instantaneously amazing that Michal took a few precious moments to bask in it. So much space! All the memories of how to control this thing flooded in her, yet she wasn't overcharged. The halo practically merged her mind with that of Lady Bat... no, Radu. While it wasn't as deep as her bond with Michel, it was so much more detailed.

Her fingers started dancing on the controls, supplementing the actions that might need extra human action with magic. Radu also had a knack of manipulating the information of machinery and was far more into the digital side of this than the mechanic. She freely offered any information she had, and it was thrilling. Every inch of the machine became known, down to the weaponry. They led the power of the songs into them.

Radar showed their enemies, she sent everyone a message to retreat. When the expectable first neglect of that demand came, the first magic missile fired.

**· · · · · · ·**

Seira didn't go close to Sara, only sent a torrent her way and overpowered her song with her own. Michel rejoined her after having covered for the garudas while they dealt with the Leviathan. he told him Michal, Radu and the sisters had hijacked a submarine, which amused Michel.

Together, they flanked it. The other submarines positioned themselves around the hijacked one, so it would need the protection. Seira could not tell which side belong to which, so she summoned her waters to ward off all of them. Michel swam with the currents she created and intercepted any missile, throwing it into the sky where a garuda carefully caught it and carried it off to detonate in safety.

"Michal wants us to lead the sub in that direction, I think," Michel said, pointing south. Seira complied, commanding the tides to that way. Along the way, she became aware of a burning sensation coming from the net, like something was trying to pushed it into her.

"Michel! Something is wrong!"

He turned at once, almost missed the next missile, but managed to grab it in the last moment with his whip. After he had threw it, he came closer.

"The net feels like it's burning. I think something is happening to the field, can you sense anything?"

"You're right." Michel focused for a moment, looking around quickly. "There!" He pointed in an certain direction. "Lucia is there, she's gathering the sea's energies."

"Tell me she isn't going to do what I think," Seira said.

"Then I won't be saying anything," Michel said through gritted teeth. Not that he needed to. While the net pushed back against the effect, her mind was tempted with a blissful serenity, and this was merely the premise.

"Michel, stay here, I'll talk to her." Seira rushed to where he had pointed, crossing the distance between her and Lucia in no time.

Despite being underwater, Lucia was in her humanoid form, the long white dress billowing around her and the staff raised high. She was just about to sing, the first note already on her lips ...

"Lucia, no!"

Lucia turned, first stunned and then she became joyous. Her aura intensified and the burning sensation was taken off the net. At the same time, the dark mass of her ancestors swarmed up around her and Lucia, who appeared oblivious to them. They urged Seira to take a hold of the staff, which hung loosely in Lucia's arms.

"Seira, you're alive!" Then Lucia's face grew worried. "Why are you black, what happened?"

"It's a long story. First, we have to stop this battle, but not the way you were about to do."

"What do you mean?"

"You were about to invoke the artificial love field, right? I can feel it, I've felt it fall away before. That's how I turned black. Lucia, it's all true. Don't give the field more strength!"

"But if without the field mermaids turned black..."

"No, I was turned black by the realizations that followed, not by the field. Please, don't make it stronger, there are side effects!"

The serious look on Lucia's face confused Seira, was it good or bad? Lucia gripped the staff tighter and Seira felt the burn in the net. Quickly, she grabbed the staff and pulled it closer to herself, right between her and Lucia. The effect stopped a little.

"Why shouldn't I use it? I'm not like the former Aqua Regina, I'll forgive people who deserve it. We have to stop more people from dying, and if I can do it in a way that makes them better people, why wouldn't I do it?"

"Yes, maybe you can sing them into stopping, but you can't sing forever. You won't have changed their nature, you'll just make them feel peaceful. They're strangers, you won't be changing their mind, so when you're gone they'll just pick up the fight. And what if that makes them realize you've done something to them? Licht died because they realized and _rejected_ the effect."

Lucia still hesitated.

"Once I could trust you with my life. Why won't you trust me now? Please wait, soon Lady Bat will be here and explain what we found out."

"Alright ..."

"You could so something else. Michal and the others have a plan, I think I've got the gist of it. We need to—"

A huge explosion rippled through the water and the song of the Black Beauty Sisters washed in all directions. When Seira spun around, she could see the nearest submarines starting to sink or slow, despite not having been hit with anything. Michal and Radu had steered the submarine to the center of the battlefield, so most of the ships and submarines were caught within the song's range.

"Never mind, they did it."

A far away spot of light shot to the sky, probably Michel. Not longer after, Garudas started diving down and clamped onto the submarines, hauling them upwards and eventually into the sky with a strength impossible for their bodies.

Seira sighed in relief and turned back to Lucia.

"It'll be alright now. The garudas are on our side now, those people won't be harmed."

Lucia smiled, but it appeared a little broken.

Not long after that, Lucia rose to the surface to land on one of the ships that she recognized as American, hoping to invoke her alliance with them so they would take in stranded people. High in the sky, the garudas were prying open submarines, taking out the people and putting in whatever missiles had not exploded yet. Michel was there to oversee them.

Meanwhile, Seira searched around for any stray mermaids. When she found them, she sent them to where the Black Beauty Sisters would be waiting. The situation with who would rule the Arabian Sea would have to wait, for now, there were injured to attend to. The anglerfish so far seemed true to their word about not letting anything happen to their future citizens.

She was just about suspecting she was done when someone called her name.

"Seira!" The next moment, she was in Sara's embrace. "I saw the new princess, I thought you had died. What in the seven seas happened?"

For a moment the surprise stunned Seira, but then she harshly pushed away.

"You're doing evil despite being orange. Why would I be dead instead of severed for some reason?"

Sara's eyes narrowed a little, though oddly not angry. "What I did was necessary for our people."

"I don't want to hear this."

She turned away and continued swimming.

"Seira!"

"If you don't leave me alone, you can talk to Michel or the Black Beauty Sisters. Do you want to?"

Sara looked blank, then her shoulders slumped and she swam away.

**· · · · · · ·**

Michal sat on the railing of a random American ship, humans staying far from him. Garuda and his flock still circled the sky, but they'd replaced the shadow with light. The remnants of Izul and Maria's weather manipulation was dissipating, now that Gackto had finally deemed it appropriate to call them back. Michel wasn't sure what to think of that whole situation. Just what had Gackto been after? Izul and Maria had claimed they would continue, but he hadn't seen them at all during the rest of the battle, only the storm kept going. Seira had dropped by a moment ago, saying she had just seen Sara ... only now. What had Sara been doing, between Seira stopped her song and appearing just now?

When the next garuda dropped off a human, he told him to search for anything that might indicate what exactly Gackto had been up to. Perhaps they could question a Panthalassan, or at least find out what their movements had been ... it was a far shot, but he didn't know anything better.

The man that had been set down stared at him in bewilderment and wonder, muttering something about God and angels. "If you're done staring, get to a doctor," Michel said and looked away, at the foam of the sea. The man said a few more irrelevant things, then finally walked off.

Cramped on the ships were the survivors, numerous though there had been casualties — frantic self defense attempts, or a little too careless handing — and no side was happy about it. Lucia had to turn up all her charm and that just barely stopped the general from yelling at her. Still, given that half of the separatists had died in this small war, ending it quickly was the best they could do. There was an unusual amount of foam covering this sea.

When Lucia finally was done talking, she walked up to him.

"Michel, thank you for saving Seira."

"I didn't exactly save her. Radu, Mahahanu, Mimi and Sheshe all did more useful things than I did. Thank them."

"But at least you tried ..."

He sighed. "Lucia, please drop it."

"Oh... okay. Was there something you wanted? You were waiting for me, right?"

"Yes. When you and the others defeated me, all damage to the world was undone, and not by any fate reversing power of my dimension. Now that you're the goddess of the seas, can't you do that again? The ecosystem could use, and ... these humans are probably going to be less annoyed if their weaponry isn't so wrecked." He also wanted to complain about how that little fate reset stunt hadn't fixed any of the environmental issues of the world, but that could wait.

"I wasn't in control of that."

"The Aqua Regina decided that?"

Lucia looked down and clutched the staff. "I don't know, actually."

"Great. And you don't know how to do anything close to it?"

"The world rebuilding thing? No. Do you?"

"I do," he said, willing his flute to morph into a bow, then into a sword and finally a tiny nightingale. "I could create a whole new dimension if I just had enough energy. Granted, Fuku laid the foundation for that, but I haven't been doing _nothing_ for the past ten years. They had me study magic like this ... I though them foolish, for I'd never need it again."

Lucia sniffled. "You're very lucky they were there to help you."

"Hm?"

"The Aqua Regina kept me alive, Taki raised me, but I never had a real family to fall back on. I had my friends eventually, but they know no more than I do. I'm sorry if this sounds selfish, I know what you've been through before you met the Ancients, but ... I just wish I had a mentor."

"If what we suspect about the Aqua Regina is true, you may not want her as a mentor. Have you seen her lately?"

"She's the one who told me to sing. It's funny, isn't it? She didn't answer my questions directly, but I still wanted to believe her. And she disappeared so suddenly."

It didn't surprise himself half as much as he would have liked. The former Aqua Regina had been the one who had summoned the other Ancients and who had helped Michal return to life on earth, he owed her. Yet the thought came surprisingly easy that she wasn't as pure as she ought to be. After all, she could give visions to Lucia, what had stopped her from telling Lucia about the other Ancients as soon as he had appeared?

Michel felt he should say or do something encouraging to Lucia, but in truth, even if he knew how he could not be sincere about it. Lucia was a lot more lost that he had thought.

"So, what do we do now?" Lucia asked, trying to sound cheerful.

"I think we'll leave that to the politicians, both those on our side and those not. We don't have much of a choice."

"But I am ... oh. Right."


	29. Symbiosis

Michal once again had her arms full, but not as full as they could have been. She was accompanied by a small swarm of leprechauns who helped her carry her things.

"Yes, I know he's scary. But unless his irises shrink, there's no reason to panic and flee," she told them after the umpteenth fearful whisper. For some reason, this didn't make them less anxious. Oh well. They were leprechauns after all.

She was going to have her laboratory on this island, since Lucia's castle was too full of humans lately. The laboratory would be installed in one of the houses that Michel had thrown together, and while she planned to get to work right away, there were a few other things on her list.

Alala and Lanhua were still in the palace, but everybody else could be expected on the monster island today. Michal Amagi had made it her task to tend a little to the world, a make shift redemption from her previous life. It was surprisingly easy to keep doing that, even if it was in small ways. That was why today, she had a list of people that she needed to talk with.

Michel and Seira had reappeared from their imprisonment in shambles and were in dire need of rest. They didn't give it to themselves, though. Michel was busy with getting the garudas to settle on the island without disturbing the monsters and moving some old refugees elsewhere, which Seira helped with her stairways before going to her kingdom to see the new princess.

She spotted Michel as they waded through the undergrowth.

"You all go ahead, it's not far," she said. "I'll be there in a minute ... make that many minutes."

Careful with the old cartographer in her hands and the books, she stepped into the small clearing where Michel was down on one knees, face to the ground and eyes closed. His hands were on his upper knee.

"What are you doing?"

He took a second to look up. "I'm trying to pray."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'll be able to able to contact the Ancients like this, or maybe I'm hoping God will answer. Maybe I just want some spiritual peace."

It was the last one, she could feel it. It also wasn't working. "Why this?"

"When I learned the truth about those who raised me, I figured that my mission from God was part of the lies, then I learned the Ancients did hold a certain belief in a creator. I don't know any other way to meditate."

"Spiritual peace would be nice for you, yes, but I don't think you'll get it like this."

"What is that supposed to mean?" he said with a frown.

"You're trying not to think about things that bother you. I can tell. Having had your memories, if anything it made me understand more about what I'm getting from you. This is denying, not peace."

He sighed. "It's Seira," he said softly.

"You ruined everything, didn't you? How on earth did you manage that?"

"I could handle _that_. I've done that before. But she isn't rejecting me fundamentally. She just wants me to sort out my monstrous side."

Ah, and he thought there was nothing to sort out because he was _all_ monster.

"Michel, you can talk, reason and are generally sane. There is an instinct of yours that you need to control though, and she's right about that. Don't be stubborn. For one thing, you're glossing over the part that she's not in love with you, like you want her to be."

He groaned. "You're like my subconscious given a voice and I can't shut it up."

"Well, you better talk back. I'm sure the past few days were a huge sledgehammer presentation of everything she might dislike about you, distilled into its purest, most primal form. Should I started citing random theories about what exactly happened till your subconscious betrays you?"

Michel cringed and stood up, but stopped himself from walking away. She waited till he was done deciding, and then he told her.

Considering how miserable he felt about it, the whole sequence was considerably tame. The confession and kissing part, at least. The murder and cannibalism thing, yeah, that was pretty disgusting, but didn't pertain directly to Seira. "Well, it's a good thing that is all out of the way now."

"Out of the way?" He deliberately pushed the 'you are mad' sentiment at her.

"Yes, out of the way. World destruction, regression into cannibalism, lack of childhood, lack of parent figures, you didn't talk about any of that with her and I know why. When you came down here, you saw Seira as some sort of ... gah, metaphor is so difficult when angels in iconography don't match up with angels in the flesh. Anyway, too idealized. Didn't want to taint her." Actually, back then she hadn't had any direct insight in his mentality, but Radu had told her a few things in the hopes she'd talk to him.

He was about to object vehemently, so she responded by throwing a sense of satisfaction and _I knew it_ at him, sprinkled with a touch of _you idiot_ and pity. Michel gave up.

"You can't have what you want, if that means a Seira who acts like in your mind. Just like I couldn't have a Kaito who acted like I wanted.

His head snapped to her.

"You left behind the memories of my previous life, yes. All just fell into place. You should have told me there is only one Michal Amagi."

"You asked me to never let you remember."

"I know, but things are different now. We didn't know what would happen to my brain. I'm practically a new person now, yet it feels like I lived that life. It even triggers different emotional combinations, like how I suddenly get melancholic when thinking about Kaito. It's ridiculous."

It also meant remembering Licht was even harder.

"You are also trying to ignore things that bother you," Michel said.

"That's nothing I can't admit and nothing I let keep me from being more proactive beyond 'let's wait till someone specifically needs me'."

Michel quietly, reluctantly admitted he was possibly, _maybe_ too obsessively focused on single goals. First, heal the world by destroying it, then, make his tiny family happy, the latter of which included a more selfish focus on Seira. And fail them all, Radu, Lanhua, Alala, Seira and even Michal a little.

At the very least, she could honestly say she was okay now, and at that moment she understood what Licht had said.

And then they had nothing to say.

And this was becoming increasingly unpleasant to dwell on.

And then Michal realized that usually, people who had quasi meaningful conversations usually did the fun things first, as a prelude to the topic. Not after.

And then she didn't care, because sharing one soul between two minds made it a little easier to overcome depressing emotions by bouncing back and forth everything.

"Put that human junk down, I'll teach you how to fly properly," Michel said abruptly.

"It's not junk."

He held up his flute and flipped it through his fingers. "Unless it can morph into varying shapes, it's junk."

"Easy for you to say, you're a minor reality warper even on low power. People like me need tools."

"Not after we're done. I'm going to teach you everything I learned up there in the past few years. DNA alteration, flight tricks, energy control and how to use magic items in the most interesting ways."

She had to smile. He would know how she felt about Licht being gone, he tried to become more of a brother to her. As long as he didn't try to _be_ Licht, she would welcome it.

Michal brought the equipment to the stone structure, found Michel had improved it enough for it to not collapse anymore, gave some instructions to her assistants, and then joined an impatient Michel.

They went to the beach and walked a bit into the water, where Michal spread her wings to levitate. Too slow for Michel, he took her hand and pulled her along into the sky, practically throwing her ahead.

"Aaaaaaah! You ass!"

"What do donkeys have to do with this?" he asked, smirking as he followed her. Michal came to a halt a few hundred meters above the island. The wind was pleasantly freezing, which Michal found a little odd.

"Your kind is adjusted to living at the bottom of the sea, that is the feeling of your magic easing up because it's not keeping you from being overheated."

"Seriously? ... we should have moved to the bottom of the ocean right away. What now?"

"It's magic that keeps you in the air, but the principle to movement is still similar to wings and aerodynamics. You'll learn soon enough."

"How?"

"Try falling."

"You're kidding."

"No, aim at the ground and miss."

"Because hitting the sea is so much more likely to not hurt."

Oh, he meant it alright. The first exercise was letting herself fall to get enough control of her will to fly, only then would they get to other directions. Given the wind at the high altitudes could be fast, sometimes it was difficult to understand him.

"Wouldn't it be awesome if we had a telepathic connection again? Not just noticing emotions, but truly being able to talk to each like, like during our soul merge?"

Michal tried somersaulting in the middle of a fall and accidentally propelled herself straight into a cloud. She came out dripping wet, prompting Michel to laugh. Yeah, these clothes weren't the best for this.

She could do the same. He sensed her intend, but she missed the ground so hard that she sent him hurtling into a cloud of his own. His clothes were even less suited for getting wet, not to mention all that hair. Off course, he had insta-dry magic.

"That was childish."

"That's called playing. You could use more of it."

"I doubt it."

Liar.

She dove at him, but this time he was prepared, easily grabbed her wing and sent her into the nearest cloud that hadn't been scattered yet.

And so both of them learned to play.

It was easier to forget when Michel didn't miss Licht and Michal knew Seira still called her a friend. One soul, two lives, after all. They could borrow from each other.

There was somersaulting (embarrassingly bad at) and then nucleic acids (interesting) and then the first inkling in years of shared thought (it was becoming a reverse dissociative identity).

**· · · · · · ·**

By the time she returned, her new assistants had installed everything almost just right. They informed her that Seira had returned from her visit to the soul of the new orange princess and had fallen asleep in a sea bed, which Michel had constructed for her early on. Michal took a few moments to put her thoughts on order, ensure she had a grip on brother-missing feelings that could get in the way, and then she went.

It was a put in the sand, held stable in the tides by rocks, sea weed and with a decorative shell here and there. Seira was submerged entirely and vast asleep.

Michal wasn't going to try and guilt trip Seira into anything, but it was be an awful shame if Seira did love him that way and was pushing him away because the knowledge of the complacency field made her paranoid about herself.

At least, that was the plan. This was the first time since the memory flood that she saw Seira up close and she was looking unusually gorgeous. It took Michal a moment or two to realize those Michel's memories, those that she had recalled actively during the flooding. She still had copies of them, locked within her own brain.

_Crap._

"Oh, Michal," Seira said, blinking.

And now she was awake. Michel was fortunately not that much of a narrator to his own perceptions (when he wasn't ignoring them entirely). Seira's eyes just called forth a general sense of "why is she looking so much more beautiful than the other mermaids?" She didn't, but that was lover's selectivity. Michal was far more poetically inclined, so she wasn't as good at ignoring them. Just how much about himself was Michel ignoring per minute?

Probably a lot, considering he once had been on the verge of destroying humanity when he really didn't want to.

"Hi," Michal said stiffly and staring at non-Seira areas of sight. She didn't quite swing that way.

"How are you doing?" Seira asked.

Very close to feeling incredibly awkward and turned off and on at the same time.

"I'm fine," Michal said through gritted teeth. Seira sat up, dark tail somehow really shiny and obsidian and Michal turned her head down to look at a wonderful, ordinary rock.

"Michal, listen ... I spoke to Licht. He wanted me to pass on a message."

And wham, that lock on her brother-missing memories broke. Well, if anything that did the trick of distracting her from Michel's memories.

Somewhere in the jungle, a garuda shrieked. Michel had gotten frustrated and pushed the poor bird into a tree when he only slightly misbehaved.

"I called him and tapped into the dream circuits. He was on his way to the afterlife and said you don't need to make up for anything. He was glad that this time, you did see he was there for you."

"This life ... " She closed her eyes. "I suppose that is indeed what he would say. I remember everything now, Seira. I wasted so much time."

"I think he didn't mind. Not that that makes it easier, I know."

"We think death as this terrible ordeal and here we have evidence it is not the end, yet I cried anyway. Licht isn't truly gone, just away. One day, I'll meet him again. If I'm immortal like the Ancients, it may take a little longer. I'll deal with it."

Not now, not here, but eventually.

Most certainly not in this awkward situation.

"I'm going."

"Wasn't there something you wanted to talk about?"

"No, it's fine. I can do it later."

**· · · · · · ·**

Kaito arrived later that day, around the same time Anayis dropped her an email saying there would be a group of Panthalassans later that day. They were going to talk to Kaito about his neglected princely duties, apparently. After ranting on how inconvenient it was that they just had to choose this island — "Michel's Monster Nest" they called it according to Anayis — as the perfect neutral ground for negotiations, she went to make the arrangements and await Kaito. He was on her list as well.

It was early in the afternoon when he arrived.

"Kaito, I need to talk to you," she said as she clumsily landed before him, still not entirely having the hang of flight.

"Hello to you too," Kaito said. Oh, right, she had forgotten greetings again in the middle of all the other thoughts. "You can fly now?"

"Obviously. And hello. Anyway, I want to say sorry for trying to blackmail you into staying with me and the undressing thing."

Kaito looked away nervously and scratched the back of his head. "You have the memories of the first Michal? I thought those were gone ..."

Michal had a feeling she might have been too blunt yet again. "I have _my_ memories back."

"Oh. Well, uhm, apology accepted."

"That was easier than expected."

"I'm older now, what did you think, that I'd throw a murderous tantrum?"

"Easier for me, I meant. I also have a question. You came late that day. Why?"

"Late —oh! I felt I had no right to oppose you, when I knew how you felt and how it was my fault. Loneliness can make one desperate."

"You didn't have that kind of pity for your brother and the other Panthalassans."

"I know, I know. I just ... I didn't like Gackto back then, but I liked you. It wasn't just pity, Michal."

Michal shrugged. "Funny, it wasn't more for me. The very fact Michel needed to _implant_ emotions in me to make me so clingy proves that just my desperation for a friend wasn't enough. You're not even my type."

"Ah. Off course."

"Did that hit your ego?" she said, taking a wild guess at the sudden change of expression she saw.

"A little."

"Good. Because you also liked Lucia back then, and you still left her to go alone. If you do anything like that again, I'm going to put that online."

"That's all?"

"Do not underestimate the power of the Internet. So, what exactly are you and those Panthalassans talking about?"

"They're the part of the Clan that didn't follow Gackto into that war. They're considering following me because I also have a fair share of protective power, but they're not so thrilled with it."

"It could be worse. At least you have some knowledge of the human world to offer, unlike Coco."

"Still, I have no idea what to do about them. I spent most of my life ignoring them and politics never were my thing."

"No. Don't do that. The 'about them' part. WITH them. They're people. Your people. That would be a start."

Someone walked up, and Michal looked over her shoulder. It was Seira, dressed in one of those formfitting Indian outfits. Michel apparently preferred legs just slightly over tail.

"Hello, Kaito. Off to be a servant to your people?" Seira said.

"I'm used to being the cool kid in charge," he said with a grin. "This is going to be difficult, isn't it?"

She and Kaito exchanged a few words that started to drift by Michal because of the onslaught of Seira related memories that came back up. She had known them all off course, that's why they were there still, but the combination was different.

These seemed to fit on feelings of awe and desire, the latter mixing uncomfortably with Kaito being here and his shirt trying to get away again. She was over him, but that was something else entirely than having no orientation. And those memories of Seira arrived at all the wrong places in her brain.

Michal made an U turn and walked away.

**· · · · · · ·**

Michal called in Michel to level a few trees and create a clearing for the Panthalassan meeting. He adamantly refused to do anything like that just for a simple gathering. He was willing to cut some branches though, so it ended up being a giant network of tiny tree platforms for the talking to happen on.

Her assistants and some of the smarter monsters were charged with guiding the Panthalassans into the jungle and with catering; she was going to need a bunch of gold to pay for that all since the leprechauns didn't work for free. Michel could materialize gold out of air, maybe once she had a hang of DNA manipulation, he could teach her that.

By noon, a group of twenty pale, suspicious Panthalassans arrived, and with them were the Black Beauty Sisters. They were on her list too, so Michal intercepted them.

"Come along, I haven't been able yet to finish the halos yet, but I'll make them now. You can watch me do it if you don't touch anything."

"Fine, whatever. Just hurry up," Sheshe said.

Michal led them to her laboratory, sat down and silently started working. She had a series of strings and carefully collected the energy from various storages while adjusting the levels on feeling. She played some music electronically, just to hum along. She sat down and it didn't take long for the two to get bored.

"Is Seira here? We need to talk to her," Mimi said after a while.

"You can't. She is catching up on sleep and needs it for her meeting with the separatists tonight. Fortunately, I serve as minister of this island and you can file your issues with me."

They didn't need much for of an invitation.

"I had no idea that ruling would be so obnoxious! We've barely been at it for a day or they're already whining about rations and barriers!"

Michal kicked her feet in the air playfully and smirked. "Welcome to the club of people finding out that being the government sucks if you don't have the skills."

"If all you're going to do is mock us, you might just as well stay quiet."

This was just perfect. The halos before her were thickening slowly, there was plenty of time to persuade.

"So anyway, I was always curious why you two are so horny when you are of a species that's anatomically incapable of sex. And what's with the sister deal?"

"Hm? Oh, that. We grew up together. In anglerfish form we aren't horny, obviously. Never thought about why we are as humanoids."

"Can I have a look?"

"Uh, what?"

"I recently figured out how to interpret DNA. It won't hurt."

"What are you going to pay us if we let you?"

"A handy monster to help you rule your sea." Michal didn't add that it would be a convenient spy for her and Michel.

"Deal."

Michal set the halos on auto collection, then she stood up. "Hold out your arm."

Michal untangled a random strand of DNA from Sheshe's arm. It spun out into a visible size for Mimi and Sheshe, but for Michal the relevant information was felt rather than seen. One's DNA didn't dictate hormonal outcome, but since their was magic modifying their bodies, readable to her, she had a pretty good idea what went on.

"Sheshe, you have about the gonads of about five different males stuffed near your womb. That explains it. When taking on human form, there is no equivalent of the anglerfish anatomy in regards to absorbing and dissolving your men. I can't quite see your hormonal status, but it's safe to say it's unconventional. I wouldn't be surprised if your brains are more male as well."

"How can we have male DNA in our bodies?"

"Don't ask me, I'm the only scientists on this globe who has been at this field for more than a few months," she said with a shrug. "I haven't even figured out myself or my symbiont. Anyway, how about getting yourselves pregnant? If you find ruling troublesome, you might find some back up very useful." And if everything went right, they would get humanoid babies that would tax them even more than any Arabian Sea with separatists could do.

"Never felt like getting pregnant. It's not like we're gonna run out of chances. Maybe later."

Given what Michel knew about them, it wouldn't take long before the temptation of free power would take a hold.

**· · · · · · ·**

Michal saw Kadru a little later that evening. She had come to give the garudas a list of conduct rules regarding her children, now they were allied to Michel. Michal dealt with her gladly, since the serpents were pleasantly uncomplicated. She also saw Vinata, whom she distantly remembered from her very brief time — mere hours — up in the sky cities.

They didn't stay long, rather, they took Garuda along. The bird general told his kin not to eat anyone and went along to a meeting in Lucia's palace. Michel went as well, and off course Seira and Kaito. Most of the Panthalassans leaders left without being allied to him, but Kaito offered them protection should Gackto try to force them to join him, or something like that. Gackto wouldn't, Michal knew. He liked people who enjoyed working for him. A few of the Panthalassans stayed on the island, not wanting either side.

Michal skipped the meeting, it would be too crowded for her. She occupied herself for the rest of the day with the quiet task of figuring out which local fish were sapient, and drawing a cluster of energy to the island to boost the reproductions of the insapient so they could sustain the many creatures living here. In other words, she promptly hired the remaining Panthalassans, who called in about fifty in the form of families and lone citizens. Time for more treehouses. She wasn't unsure what to do about the trees, which were taking the toll as well. Having an Earth Goddess would be handy about now. But if they got the sea to stay working, it would help a lot.

As the time passed on she started to get glimpses of the meeting, much to her surprise. So far, it was just an arbitrary thing. There were no details about what anyone said, but she got a rough gist of Michel's opinions.

Radu was leading the word and sharing lots of fancy details that didn't go through, she only knew it was details due to Michel's interest. In any case, the complacency field was pretty much confirmed. She played with a few ideas and stuck with those that felt right. Earlier, Seira had left her some notes about her own experiences, which she mentally compared.

( Archon had said something about unusual degrees of information becoming randomly available, Seira's notes said. Radu had also given her notes on request, detailing the organization's findings, and her discovery of Archon being manipulated. He had expected Seira would remember one day, and he needed her to not misinterpret the intentions of the organization for that reason ... what did that mean? Nobody talked about these things, but Michal thought they should. )

There was debate about the morality of this field. Making people feel better wasn't fundamentally wrong, which Michal wholeheartedly supported. Emotions weren't a matter of free will anyway, though the sharing of emotions was a matter of privacy. The flip side of the coin was that some believed the field wasn't wrong at all, which started to get Michel riled up along with probably quite a few Panthalassans. Michal agreed with him on this point. Even if people would become nicer, that didn't mean they'd abandon their beliefs and goals. It would just make them better at working together to achieve those goals. To be more loving to their fellow human beings only extended as far as those they considered fellow human being, and not "the other". Not to mention potential Sara-like consequences, or even Seira and her crisis of faith.

Mermaids lacked cultural diversity and experience with diversity. Every mermaid has the same lore. Panthalassans and demons bad, humans distant, mysterious and hot, Aqua Regina ultimate force of goodness. That summed it up for the entire globe. They weren't ready to handle sudden nonconformity. Heck, humans already sucked at dealing with it, despite history.

And then the topic of the former Aqua Regina came up, in the middle of a meeting attended by mermaids wired on seeing her as the epitome of the perfect, infallible goddess. This derailed everything, judging by Michel's sheer frustration.

As it stood, the effect was already failing. Here, Michal had no firm opinion. Given the chaos right now, would it be better if unite the mermaids again along with the Panthalassans, or to let it diminish slowly? Would there ever be a right time for that?

If there was a definite conclusion to the debate, she would have to hear about it later, because by the end of it Michel's side of their soul was an unreadable clutter of emotions and he no longer tried telling her anything. She was grateful for that, given how he felt right now.

**· · · · · · ·**

Many Panthalassans slept during the day since they were only used to darkness. Michal left them on the bottom of the sea around the island, where they kept watch or slept near the fish constructs they had rebuilt. Some adaption was needed since deep sea fish were different than those of the shores, but it would work out.

Michal had slept at intervals, but only now would get her real rest. Between her and a bed in the jungle, Seira drifted in the waves. Michal quickly swam past her and said something about Michel not being here, good luck with negotiations and sleep now.

"Michal, is something wrong? You've been avoiding me ever since I returned ... are you angry that I rejected Michel?"

"No."

"Then tell me what it is," Seira pleaded. "If I ... I know actually I didn't do anything to you." She looked a little offended, to Michal's overtaxed patience.

"You are right, it has to do with you and Michel. It's the fact that while the memories are gone, I still have copies of anything I consciously recalled during the time I recalled them." Now she was on this topic anyway, she might just as well go a little further. "When Michel first arrived on earth, he wasn't _in_ love with you. I could tell, cause it was a really drastic change. One random day, I was merrily working on an experiment and then _wham_ , hormones! I later found out that was the day you first appeared on the island. At the time, it just meant I was very hormonal and men were suddenly much more interesting. Off course, that's just feelings. Now I've got the memories to go with those hormones ... I'm a heterosexual female psychically linked to a heterosexual male. Do. Not. Want."

"Oh ... " Seira said, clutching her hands in front of her, as if she'd suddenly become aware she was without clothes in human form. "It's bad, I guess—"

"Twenty something male who finally got a new body after a decade without hormones. He has vivid imagination. Yes, it's bad."

"I'm going to go to the other side of the island now. Let me know once you've coped with this."

"You can call Radu while you're there."

"I'm on it!" Seira said, and she ran off.

"Oh, by the way, Seira? When did _you_ fall in love?"

Seira stopped in her track and turned around, a little annoyed. "This really isn't a good topic and —"

"If it was back then, while inside his soul, you were as immune to the Complacency Field as he was. Just saying, in case you were wondering whether your feelings were real."

Seira's tensed pose drooped, she looked a little lost. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I know how horrible it is, the idea that you're being forced to love someone. You can't be sure about who you are or who they are. Now you need to start asking yourself, are the reasons you love him something you already knew back then?"

Seira looked down at the sand. "I think so."

"Great. Then you can now be happy cause with humans, the chemicals that make people blind to flaws and exaggerate positive traits in their target d' lust runs out within one and a half year anyway. You're lucky it got switched off earlier for you, because you can now think clearly about what you want. Not need. Just want."

"What I want?"


	30. Catharsis

While sea life in the Gulf of Aden was abundant, with most fishing was small scale and close to shore, the water flow was not the friendliest. The fayfolk that dominated the magical food chain of the Red Sea were of the opinion that technically the gulf wasn't part of the ocean and always had wanted to control it, and to further complicate it, there were the pirates and occasional terrorist attacks on enemy submarines. The reefs that was the home to mermaids who didn't rely on the glamor magic were sparse, and then some oil leaks happened. And that was just before the war had stirred things up.

The separatists were in what humans called the Sheba Ridge, but Seira wasn't sure in what fault. She swam around for a while, alone, until she found a sentry. There was no formal greeting, just a simple nod and a gestured order to follow. The fault she was led into was one of the deeper, dark and barely recognizeable as a settlement.

They were in a miserable state.

Without a city with a protective glamor, they had been forced to hide in caves where there was not enough room for normal living, let alone food storage. From the far away safety of her capital it had been easy to see them as the stubborn idiots. Now Seira felt like a fool, which only intensified when the flock broke to reveal their leader. Seira had built up expectations of a dangerously beautiful older mermaid with harsh eyes. Who met her was one with a frail build and a scruffy look, her tangled hair pulled back in a ponytail. She had forsaken a shell bra in favor of some sort of wrapping and wore a lot of jewelry that looked like it had been handmade. There was no sign of the magic that kept mermaid accessories and hairdo as meticulously perfect as that of the ordinary citizens.

"Do you already know my name?" the leader asked. It was a test, Seira realized, and she about to fail it.

"No," she said softly, keeping eye contact.

"Sumati," she said. Seira gave herself a mental slap, that name had been on several of the letters she had received. They had been of the less aggressive variant than others, so she had pegged them as belonging to a subdivision's leader.

"Before we speak about our ... situation, why are you black?"

"Those who held me captive discovered a way to cut me off from the oceanic magic that ..." How could she explain this without causing a panic?

She looked at them, waiting, skeptical of her. Upon closer inspection, some of the things she had considered accessories were in fact bandaged injuries. There was a dim scent of blood around them. It struck Seira that skin worthy for a catwalk was horrid for life under the sea. Yet, many of their tails had more defined scales and a pattern of darker and lighter oranges, not unlike a discus fish's pattern. Not all of them had it, while some couldn't possibly pass for an average mermaid; she'd heard rumors of this but apparently they'd been careful to stay out of sight.

"I'm just as curious about your tails. Did you choose to use less magic? You seem less protected from the sea."

"You're dodging our question."

"No, I think your answer will be relevant."

"This isn't less protective, this is accepting. We didn't feel like following your wasteful lifestyle. We use that magic for speed, for safety and for strength. For some reason the colors of some changed. Now answer our question."

So Seira told them everything, about the complacency field, the nature of turning black, the ancestors aiding her and her suspicion that the separatists were somehow more immune to the negative aspects of the field. At the end of it, the story had twisted all those faces into shock and horror. Only their leader and her two closest remained truly calm, though if anything, hate dominated her expression. Seira couldn't help but feel intimidated.

"Well ... that's wonderful," Sumati said, blowing a few bubbles out and sounding tired in a way that was very familiar to Seira. "This is well beyond our league to deal with though. We'll take your blackness in stride for now and talk about what we can expect from those demons you put in charge of this region. Dead sea goddesses having abused their power can wait."

This was the hardest part.

"I wish for a truce." Seira lowered her head, more or less bowed as far as it could be recognized as such by a species that positioned horizontally to move forward. The motion elicited a murmur of surprise from the flock.

"A truce? Don't be ridiculous! You sold our home to two sea demons! Why don't you talk to them, hm?" Sumati's voice was louder now, but still oddly slow, like she was probing. Seira looked up and saw nothing but contempt in her eyes.

"I assure you, their idea of ruling is standing tall and dramatic and proclaiming themselves queens. You'll have very effective defense forces whose only payment is that you throw them a banquet or something, but once you bring up rations they'll run. It is you who will handle the politics."

"How would _you_ know they're as much of a joke as you say? How will they like their 'citizens' swimming off if we decide to live elsewhere? Which, mind me, is not something we're interested in doing again."

"I had time to kill while stuck in Michel's soul, so I interacted with all the other people there. They were there too. They like to be paid and they like to play evil overladies, but once you get on their good side, you'll find them there to help you. Even against me."

Sumati looked sideways, making eye contact with her two subordinates. "Ah yes, the crazy angels that ate you and whom you are awfully interested in. That must be informative. Did you ever wonder whether that complacency field might have made you more tolerant for forgiving the pretty faced enemies, while discarding the less fancy?"

One of the other mermaids shouted, "You've done with us what the former Aqua Regina did to the Panthalassa Clan!"

"Be it on a smaller scale," Sumati added. "I suppose you're going to credit your sudden rationaly to being cut off from that field?"

"The field does not work negatively on Michel or any of the Ancients, nor did it work on while I was within his soul. But I believe you are right on the other part. It should never have gotten so far that we went to conflict. You could resist to some degree, I might perhaps too, had I not been so desperate to play the good princess. It is very possible to reject the effect, which is what turned me black in the first place."

Sumati crossed her arms. "This is all very interesting, but it doesn't solve any of our problems. We need a place to live without submarines, without radical humans and without sea demons breathing down our necks."

"I will teach you the song to control the ocean currents and if it ever becomes dire enough, you can give Michel or Michal a call. They may be my friends, they are a faction of their own now they're aiming for control of the sky creatures. I'll create a magical cellphone for you."

"Hmm ... and you think we could summon enough power to work that song, despite not being princesses?"

"You don't waste magic on trivial things, as you said yourself. I believe it will work."

They started to like the idea. Now that Sumati grew less defensive, the others started to speak more, throwing in requests and demands at will. Seira did her best to keep up. Making promises wasn't easy, since she still had to talk to her own people about this, most importantly in establishing a perimeter to hunting grounds.

They would stay, and try to have this work out. Seira's end of the bargain required her to make a lot more compromises, naturally, since there wasn't much the already under-magical, under-equipped separatists could compromise on. Seira was a little worried for the future, since these mermaids had been honing the art of combat well beyond the average hunter and gathered, who could use her voice to persuade a shark or orca to leave them alone. Most worrisome though was that there was one point that the Black Beauty Sisters agreed on with the separatists : the genies didn't need the Red Sea. If they combined force to drive them out, it could still escalate. The best Seira could do was make the separatists comfortable enough to not need the Red Sea for survival.

For the immediate time though, Seira just had to worry about getting a banquet over here to appease the Black Beauty Sisters, one that would leave plenty of food for everyone else.

"Oh, almost forgot. You may also need to babysit at some, I hear Michal has suggested that they procreate ... I'm uncertain it is a good idea."

Sumati shrugged. "If our 'protectors' are willing to let us raise their children, all the better for us. If you all end up somehow undoing that complacency field of the former goddess, we will be able to use more on _our_ side. After all, look at how divided the human world is and imagine what that means for ours, without artificial love."

Seira nodded tensely. "You're not the only one who realized this."

There was a slightly more formal goodbye, which Seira was certain was just done to humor her a bit. She left by dream circuit and curled up the stairway.

When she looked back, the light of the stairway falling onto Musati, she briefly had the impression the mermaid looked a little less orange and more towards red.

As she came higher her ancestors started to make themselves known, and before she knew it, the skyscape warped into a bubble below sea, with indistinct seaweed whirling around. From within, the eyes of her ancestors glowed dimly.

Seira stopped, a little fearful, but forced herself to be calm. This was certainly new and more sudden than before.

"Is there something you want?" she called out.

They gave her no distinct answer, but their shadowy shapes pointed ahead with long fingers to where the path vanished into darkness. Seira tried to see through it, but unlike the darkness of the sea, she couldn't bypass it. She was just about to ask again when a shape became distantly visible : a white and orange form, Sara in her telltale dress.

The path and its artificial atmosphere made it difficult for her to walk, and Seira noticed she herself was also starting to float as if in water. Sara took the cue and transformed into a mermaid.

The moment she did so, the path vanished entirely. Both were now in the surreal circuit, much to Sara's puzzlement. The former princess looking around skeptically while approaching the bright green center that surrounded Seira. If she saw the lurking eyes, she didn't visible respond, nor did she appear to hear them. To Seira though, they whispered clearly that if she pushed Sara's soul off the path, they would destroy Sara for her.

"Seira, how did you create this space?"

She swallowed and decided to ignore that. "How did you get on my dream circuit?"

"I had to track a little, but here I am. I came to see whether I could help with the negotiations. It took so long and—"

"I don't need _your_ help."

Sara sighed. "You've forgiven others."

"Have I? Michel, R-Lady Bat, Lanhua, Alala, Mimi, Sheshe ... I've forgiven mixtures of victims and minions, but not masterminds."

"Fuku had no remorse," Sara said. "I have tried, at least, to atone for my sins."

Seira reached up to her necklace and took it off, opening it to reveal the black pearl inside. "Have you really? This black color isn't a sign of sin and so it returning to orange does not mean remorse, that much I know."

"It is one of abandonment. What do you feel abandoned by?" Seira had a good guess Sara hadn't just come to help with separatists, and at the same time she knew the answer wasn't just a simple, "you."

"You didn't answer my question," Seira said harshly.

"It's possible that I don't entirely feel for what I've done to the _kingdoms_ as what I've done to those close to me. But I understand what I've done wrong."

"Really?" Seira looked Sara straight in the eyes and said, "Birth versus creation was a big topic amongst Michel's servants, so while the others may not have gone to school long enough to know, I know what _twin_ means. Gackto is Kaito's older brother by no more than a few minutes, isn't he?"

Sara looked disturbingly fine with that. "Indeed he is. He may be a little more loyal than logical to me, but what of it?"

"How can you shrug it off? When you first met him, Gackto was an isolated six year old with no concept of parents and you were 8 years his senior. _Off course_ you have him wrapped around your fingers, you practically raised him! And now he is your lover and your ticket out of the afterlife, you still use him!"

"I did not exactly have a plan to seduce a six year old when I left my kingdom. I was heartbroken and he was there to serve me at every whim. He also had a nifty little magical trick of aging his body up, so I did not mind the nature of his affection. He is with me now, because that is what he wants."

"You may not have been cruel to Gackto, unlike Fuku to Michel, but it still runs down to this : you used a lonely child to further your world domination plans."

"Oh Seira, I know what parallel you draw, but it wasn't the same situation. I understand I've sinned —"

"And that didn't stop you from doing it again."

Sara frowned. "You may not agree with how I defended the Indian Ocean, but I _have_ defended it and that is something that its mermaids understood. Neither me nor they have rejected the orange color one me. Seira, are your scales black truly because some artificial device cut you off from this so called complacency magic?"

No, Seira knew that. The field's absence had just made it possible for her to realize that there was no such thing as a truly unified kingdom, not in the way she had been made to believe. There was no world where her technical mother didn't assign different moral dimensions to living creatures on base of how well she knew them.

Her ancestors didn't try to persuade her to push, didn't give any reasons why she should or should not. They simply waited, softly telling her to not worry if she fell herself. They knew who to harm and who not.

They knew and so had Sara, who had chosen to harm innocents anyway. Seira clutched the necklace firmer and raised her eyes up. "You left me with a kingdom in ruins, which you received whole and did not care for. I _want_ a peaceful kingdom! I want to be a good princess to my people, but you did ... I won't be like you."

Sara laid a hand on Seira's fist. "Off course not, you cannot be like me. Go home, rule your kingdom as you and its people see fit."

How could someone like Sara exist? Vow to destroy the world over being dumped, and then so easily be accepted back? How could someone recognize they sinned and regret it, but regret only for themselves and their close friends and not for harming the world?

Sara's other hand lay on Seira's arm as if she would pull her into a hug, but nothing happened, save Sara's eyes growing more sorrowful. The monstrous mermaids still waited for Seira's decision.

The separatists would not be part of her kingdom, but Sara was by nature the former princess. That was the simple truth.

Sara's smile died when Seira said, "Go and stay out of my politics from now on."

Seira left behind her mother and the strange dreamlayer of the ancient mermaids faded away without Sara ever realizing she'd been in danger.

As she curled across her stairway, her bangs shifted before her eyes and with surprise, she noticed she was orange again. The knowledge was met with an almost detached interest. Why for this? Why did she need to accept Sara as part of her kingdom when Sara had only caused her strife? She should have been her mentor, a guiding friend, not her adversary.

There was an unwelcome sting of loneliness when she realized just how few peers she had. She loved many and most loved her back, but that wasn't the same as having someone to relate to and trust in a time of weakness. Trust the wrong people, listen to the wrong advise from councilors, and you'd be left feeling betrayed even if no promise was broken. She trusted Lucia unconditionally, but she wasn't the wisest. And then ... she hadn't spoken to her council in a long time, and she hadn't formed more than a basic friendship with all the other princesses. There had been so much to do in the kingdoms, her own the most.

Seira took far longer to return to her monster island than usual, lingering as she thought. It was already approaching dawn when she finally emerged at the shores.

At once, the soft notes of Michel's song reached her. It had to be a sleep song, because it tempted her to just lie down and close her eyes. However, she starting humming herself to stay awake, throwing a little of her own power against the effect.

As always, the sound was hauntingly beautiful, and she was enticed to seek him out for all the wrong reasons. It'd just be to gain comfort for herself and ... was that such a bad thing?

Seira's concept of romantic love and lifelong partnership was founded entirely on that of Lucia and obtained at an age that was way too early to properly judge its accuracy. She'd lived the first years of her life without knowing either love or hate, friendship or loneliness. What she'd been given then were childish emotions from manipulated people, be they mermaids or clones of Ancients. Those were poor sources of judgment. Maybe she ought to try having some irrational teenage years.

She tried looking at herself as if she were without emotions and found that all grand purpose was gone, and yes, she really was a simple enough person to like him for familiarity and kinship over their messed up identities.

Cheerfulness, but also wanton hormones and a strange sort of relief — no more of Sara's legacy — and the return of her orange color that made her feel a little bold.

He was on that same rock as when Hanon had given the disastrous news, way back then. When Michel saw her, he lowered his flute and smiled.

"You're orange again."

She nodded as she swam up and hovered before the rock. "I've repaired a few things today, about myself and my kingdom. We may be having red mermaids soon."

"Your kingdom is ..." He trailed of, afraid to bring up something she might not want to hear. He had gotten very careful about that, so she quickly said, "A little smaller than before. Say, Michel, I just obtained peace by compromising and suggesting copious manipulation of a third party. Tell me, do you mind? Not because you've done worse, just comment on the tactics."

"No, I don't. You didn't do it in a way that harmed anyone, right?"

She smiled widely. "Most others I know will be horrified."

"That's why I ... ehm..." He looked away.

She set a hand between the rock and her cheek, leaning on it. "Speaking of fixing things. You never talk about it anymore. You know, changing the world for the better."

"I'm doing what I can. I already have the garudas under my command, which is more than I want."

"Hah, you liar! I saw you look when we were on our day trip in India. I see it every time you step up and defend someone. I knew it back then when you realized you had no true way to help the world. You desperately want to do more."

"That's exactly it! I don't have a good way to do everything I want to do. Actually, make that anything."

"Maybe you're just afraid of what might happen."

"Yes, I am afraid," he said bluntly. "I can't so easily tame that monster, Seira. I don't know if I ever will."

"Then what do you want to do with the rest of your life?" she said, a little louder than intended.

"I don't know."

"Do you at least know what you'd like to do concerning your pseudo-confession to me?"

She might just as well pulled a whale out of nowhere. Michel seemed to shrink and looked away. "That was not the way I planned it," he said very quietly.

"Yet it is how it happened. Will you talk about it with me, please?"

He would rather not. Everything about him begged to bolt.

"Michel, this isn't just a fancy side dish. You're not the most stable person, and it probably won't be good if you go tormenting yourself about this along with everything else."

He sighed and hid his face behind a hand. She waited, and he said nothing. She had to remind herself that he had even less experience with romance than her ... and he probably knew that Michal had told her about the more carnal side of it. She was about to give up, excuse herself with checking up on the island ...

"For what it's worth, I'm bothered far more about being a murderer." He dropped his hand and looked past her, at the horizon. "I can't really talk about what I want in the future, because before I came down here I had no ideas about this, and once I developed them they inevitably involved you. We both wanted the same, I thought. A better world, without knowing how to." His wings slumped down for a moment, then pulled together more tightly. "You're one of five people who truly know me, and ... ugh, I give up. I can't say the right thing, Seira," he said, sounding utterly defeated.

"The right things for what?"

"For making you understand that I don't love you for a stupid reason. At least not anymore."

A smile unfolded onto Seira's face. "I just wanted to know whether you could be around me without expecting something back."

"You tested me," he flatly said.

Seira made a wild gesture with her hand. "Yes. You see, I am about to give you something to do that will make you spend a lot of time around me."

He looked at her expectantly.

"I've told the inhabitants of the new Red Kingdom, whom I strongly suspect are going to have a uniting conflict with the Red Sea soon, that they could call on you as a political ally if they didn't feel like asking me. Now, it would be very helpful for overall peace if we would also have an alliance. Will you come down the sea with me?"

"Not too long ago, you were certain you weren't in love with me and you know I am. Asking me to live down there isn't the best way to—"

"I'm still certain. But I do love you, if not for a chemical that screams Truth And Perfection and Love Eternal. There's a few things I'd like you to change, none the least that you should tell me about _my_ flaws a lot more. You could start being around. You see, you're not the only one who doesn't have many who truly know you."

"What changed?" he asked in utter confusion.

"I just realized you stopped destroying the world without ever needing to listen to a magical song. I think that's one thing I like about you."

"One thing?" he whispered, finally starting to smile again. That had taken too long.

"I'll tell you about the others later. But first ..." She wanted this to go right. One little bit of fairytale magic in this mass of cynicism. "We may have had a horrible start, and a horrible restart, and everything else went wrong too. But still, when I indirectly asked you to give me my first kiss all those years, I meant it. Even if we don't go anywhere, for better or for worse, I won't regret it."

She pushed further out of the water, bringing her face close before Michel's. He looked apprehensive. Seira just smiled at him and leaned in. He drew back only a little; did he actually believe he wasn't allowed even when she ... ah, there he was.

When they broke the kiss, Seira opened her eyes to see Michel in that rare moment where she could truly believe him an angel in the way humans thought of them, perfectly serene and unflinchingly good. That hadn't been why she'd kissed him, but it was nice to know she could make someone this happy.

"So we won't call it love until we really know ourselves," he muttered. "I've got room for that."

Seira had to laugh and then her phone rang. Her mood was good enough to not even be bothered by this. She half expected Michal to demand what had just happened, but it was Hanon. Sounding urgent and distressed. Again.

_No, what now? It's like every time I'm getting anywhere with you, fate barges in and get in the way. First you leave. Then Lucia reveals magic to the world. What is it now?_

"Hanon, what's wrong?"

This time, Seira didn't shout. Her eyes just twitched a little.

"Michel, you're being charged with war on the world and the slew of countries demands Lucia to hand you over to be placed on trial."

Michel laughed, that same crazy sound as long ago when he had realized the futility of everything he had done. " _Of course_. I will go."


	31. Profiling

"You can't go!" Lucia shouted, the echo carrying through her throne hall. "It's out of the question! Their legal system doesn't even have room for forgiveness!"

"On a legal note, redemption is irrelevant. However, the fact that he was a manipulated minor who got drugged whenever he asked too much questions, now _that's_ what a defense can be built on," Michal said.

"We are not handing over Michel!" Lucia said, stomping the bottom of her staff on the floor. Michal wondered why Lucia was so upset lately, for her to be so loud was uncharacteristic.

"Good, because that's not your call to make anyway. I'll hand myself over and you can stay here," Michel said nonchalantly.

"No, this doesn't make sense," Kaito said, hovering aside of Lucia's throne. "What evidence do they even have?"

"The memories of Seira and whatever magical creature that knows about what I did, and a staff that can restore the memories that were taken to prevent the world from remembering anything. That's not little," Michel said.

"We don't know whether the organization really is behind this, do we?" Kaito asked. "For all they know, something went wrong with the staff when Seira and Michel had momentary control. Maybe those unrelated to the organization just remembered and spilled the beans."

"Oh, I think they're involved. I've seen a change in the guard of certain governments and this is too coincidental that it's only after Michel did something public and provocative like leading a swarm of birds into war," Michal said. "Anyway, Michel is right. It would look horrible to the world if you protect him."

"Besides, the worst they could do is lock me up," Michel said, and Michal felt his mental cue to explain.

"They are not likely to legally reveals to governments that they know how to destroy souls, assuming that wasn't a bluff, because that will make them like a threat. Even if they run out of use for Michel, if he is simply killed it won't be a big deal. He'll just regenerate and come back."

"Others _can't_ come back," Lucia whispered. "What if they lock you up for a hundred years, and when you get out, Seira and Michal are gone?"

"What if I stay here and the land declares war on the sea?" Michel said steadfastly, but Michal knew what he was pushing back. She shot a look to Seira, who hovered a little behind them, looking stunned or disbelieving. She didn't say anything while Lucia and Kaito and Michel argued between the three of them about what to do.

The answer was obvious, off course. They could not risk a war. There were many already wondering about Lucia being responsible for certain natural disasters, either willingly or not, and Sara's war efforts had not been met kindly by whatever side. There was too much at stake.

Michel was planning to channel his power through Michal into the garudas, thus still being active by proxy. For him, that was good enough. For Lucia and Kaito, it wasn't. Seira said nothing,hadn't said anything since entering the hall and muttering about fate being something not nice.

In the middle of this, Michal wondered whether it was paranoid to believe that fate itself was working against them. It was awfully curious that something world changing happened in both instances where Seira and Michel were bypassing self inflicted limitations. Off course, the organization had started planning this as soon as Michel was out, or as soon as Michel publicly revealed himself and gave them something to work with, but the warrant being ordered ...

Like it was all a joke.

**· · · · · · ·**

Michel went alone, dropping out of a gateway and flying from there to the point the humans had indicated. It was at a military base, he was to land at a marked spot on an airplane runway, right in the middle of a large contraption that brimmed with magic. As he approached he smelled the distinct, dusty scent of the ruins on them. Apparently, the organization had graciously lent the United States some of their technology, and they were throwing in magical barriers this time.

Someone over a megaphone shouted he was to hand over his weaponry, so he tossed down his flute and resisted to urge to miss the ground and hit someone's head.

As he landed, he got a good look at all their imperfections and the raging scent of mortality and the filth they surrounded themselves with. He still hated them as a whole, which struck him as ironic since he had never hated Michal.

The contraption had five mechanic 'arms' that closed around him as soon as he folded his wings, creating a forcefield. The metal used was pretty sturdy _and_ the source of the field, he wouldn't be able to get out of this with just his hands and there wasn't any giant naga handy. Once the cage was locked, the humans approached.

Despite knowing the shield had activated, they still were armed. The sole human that wasn without weapons stood at a safe distance and shouted something about rights to remain silent, whatever. Michel laid his fingers on the new halo Michal had given him, and vowed to make sure not to go so hungry as to lose his life again. His personal mantra was that this would all be to avoid more trouble for the mermaids.

And maybe he didn't mind too much to pay for his crimes. He suppressed a smirk as he saw the giant truck they were bringing in for transport. Silly humans, they could have just had him land right in their prison, unless they planned to tow him around for some reason. Maybe there wasn't enough room in a prison to arrange a whole army around.

He crossed his legs, closed his eyes and didn't mind the humans and their scent of fear anymore.

**· · · · · · ·**

They kept him in another room of rock, this time surrounded be an additional barrier and an extended variant of the mechanism they'd used earlier. He hadn't bothered changing his pose and focused on keeping himself calm by trying to perfect his communication with Michal. She was anything but happy with this situation and wanted him back, but did her best to 'talk back'. He was starting to get some images of her, but couldn't be sure whether they were memories or constructs.

At some point, the door opened and a seat was placed a few meters before the trap, along with a table. In was led an older man, who sat here. A guard stayed outside the door, leaving the man apparently alone. Michel doubted that illusion, they probably had some defense mechanism around him too. He waited for the man to speak, but he took some time getting his seat and unwinding stuff from a briefcase. In his scent and behavior, fear was as clear as with anyone. Michel wondered just how much they knew. Were they just memories of the bygone world destruction, where no human had seen him? Maybe there had been recordings of his appears in the Gulf of Aden?

Michal, presumably on a computer somewhere, suddenly focused on his mad days in the ruined city. Michel did a mental double take, had they actually gone as far as letting people know about his queasy dietary habits? Had there been some sort of recording? He hadn't paid attention to it at the time, hadn't even known was a camera was, but it wasn't unlike there had been a video feed active at the time.

His trial was going to be painful.

When the man folded his hands after a long time to gather her nerves, he said with a slightly shaking voice, "Hello, Michel, I am your attorney."

"And that would be?"

"I'll be leading your defense."

"Why wouldn't I lead my own defense?" Michel said, frowning. This man the man nervously look away.

"You are the accused, have no qualifications and I'm told you can't even read. More importantly, we have certain rules we must keep, regardless of whether those of your ... culture may be different."

"Fine," Michel said and closed his eyes again.

The man coughed, shuffled some papers and continued, "Well, normally I proceed to inform people of their legal chances and the proceedings, but in this case I believe we need to address something else first ... is there anything you can do to look less sissy?"

Michel promptly opened his eyes again. They were going to discuss aesthetics? "What is that supposed to mean?"

The man shifted in his seat. "A research towards jury reaction indicates that sentences on beautiful people are lighter than those on ugly people, _except_ when the accused is on the stand for fraud and deception. In these cases, the jury feels cheated and judges more harshly. Now, you look ... you look very beautiful ... for a woman. And that's a problem."

"Why?" Michel asked flatly.

"There's a lot of men who are going to look at you and experience cognitive dissonance due to the knowledge that you are a man. Your very appearance feels like a cheat to them. Could you do anything to look more masculine?"

"What? I _am_ a male already!"

"You need to understand is that in our culture, men are considered the superior, stronger gender. They build their self worth on this. This is so deeply entrenched that men succeed at suicide three times as often as women because their machismo often prevents them from seeking help or trying 'softer' methods from which there is a chance of salvation. Machismo is about dominant behavior, tough appearance and heterosexual orientation. Now look at you. You are beyond androgynous and wear a dress with excessive amounts of golden jewelry. You are a walking, talking taboo."

This society was ridiculous. "I _am_ male and heterosexual."

"The media is already doing a fine job of downplaying that you're far stronger than you look by showing you do magic but leaving out the physical feats. And you could have a harem full of busty girls and panic when a man so much as winks at you, it wouldn't matter. They'd just say you're in denial."

"Ugh. I can't believe we're talking about my gender and orientation. I want to marry the orange princess, for crying out loud. Why is this even coming up?"

"Yes, that is another problem. The way you talk about criminal offenses so lightly is going to work against you. Especially the part where you want to marry someone whose soul you once ate. You could show a little more remorse, rather than contempt."

Did they know _everything_? Far away Michal sent something like, _mostly_.

"Those criminal offenses made up my youth. What am I supposed to do, launch into an tormented monologue every time I think about it? Contemplate suicide at every turn? It's already bad enough when I _don't_ try." Then, under his breath, he added, "Besides, I've done those monologues. After ten years, it gets old."

"I would suggest not talking at all if you're going to be like that."

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

"Sit and look tormented and remorseful. That at least is something your face could pull off. And get a haircut."

"Is there anything at all that will work in my favor? Aside of these trivial little things?"

"Well, the footage of that carnage does imply you're doing it to protect a princess, but her being black at the time isn't the best thing. Certain conspiracy theorists jumped on the existence of souls and are saying you tainted hers when you ate her and it came out now due to proximity or a dropped glamor."

"Souls can't be tainted like that."

"What evidence do you have for that?"

"I'm in a prison, in case you didn't notice."

"Maybe these things are common knowledge for you, but most of this world has nothing concrete to go on. Magic wasn't even part of every day life until a few months ago. Everything is questioned, you can't just expect them to believe, especially not now."

"Too bad."

The man placed his forehead in his hand, rubbing it tiredly. "Look, at least a dozen lawyers declined defending you. One stopped himself short of calling you a fag. At the very least, you could cooperate a little with me."

"You ask me for evidence when I'm locked up here."

"Obviously, I'm expecting you to tell me where to find evidence, not to personally hand it over."

"My entire species is extinct, I can't call them over for someone not magical to see, and the point of souls is that you _can't_ easily access them when they're moving on. The only way to demonstrate that no, me eating a soul doesn't taint it is for me to do it."

He held up his hands. "Fine, fine, let's just move on. How about you tell me your side of the story?"

And so Michel did as accurate as he could, mostly ignoring Michal's reprimand that he was laying it on too thick about how horrible he'd been. At least this man seemed content about the remorse thing showing up. On her insistence, he started mentioning Fuku a little more, and when he reached the part where Fuku revealed the plan, his attorney lit up a bit.

"This Fuku figure, can we have him arrested and make him testify?"

"No, we sealed him after he tried destroying the world with those meteorites."

"That wasn't you?"

"No. I was only involved insofar it concerned stopping him."

"Excellent. Now if we could get—"

"That all took place in the dream layer, so no, I can't get you any evidence."

"But is there any way to get him here? Even when sealed? From what I understand, sealed spirits can still project themselves, right?"

"Is your court actually going to accept a mirage that testifies?"

The man sighed. "We're working on a system that can verify between actual soul and illusion. So, tell me a bit more about Fuku."

"He's a siren, a companion species to angels, but unlike us he doesn't need the same atmospheric components to live. In our old existence, Ancients needed a particular atmosphere that relies on an extinct plant that gave us Amrit. Fuku can live without Amrit, as can I by my Panthalassan heritage."

"A siren, is that a sort of mermaid?"

"What? No. He is a small bird with a humanoid head and a halo."

The man laughed nervously. "We're going to call something whimsical like that ultimate evil?"

"I never said ultimate evil, just most heartless person I ever met."

The man shook his head, disbelieving. "That's just great. An cute mascot is the perpetrator. It's starting to look like your best shot is pleading insanity. Assuming you even care how this unfolds, an impression I haven't been getting."

Michel decided not to tell anyone about his immortality, so he just shrugged and said, "No, it is important how this unfolds. This isn't about my life, this is about how it will reflect on the world. I'm an ally to the mermaids, whatever punishment I get I'd prefer to be one where I could at least be let go if the mermaids really need me."

His attorney still shook his head. "Then the world is screwed. Our legal system doesn't work that way. Listen, today, you're going to be asked how you plead, guilty or innocent. What will it be?"

"Guilty. Insane. Whatever."

"You really don't take this serious, do you?"

"Says the human who couldn't be bothered to tell me his name. Do you think I have the magic of true names, based on some random fear? You don't take this very serious either, do you? I know what money is, I know neither me nor any of my friends have it. I don't know why you're here, but you don't like it."

**· · · · · · ·**

"Off course!" Radu threw her hands up while Michal turned off the television. "I knew the reason he didn't have a problem with this was some misplaced self hatred."

Michal turned off the television, without ever taking her eyes off her computer. "Want a run down of his exact mental status? It'll include the word cannibalistic monster a lot."

"No, I don't think I need that just yet. Let me know when he's going to do something even more stupid."

Seira stared past the television, the same one Sara had given her in what seemed ages ago. It was now positioned in the throne room of the orange kingdom. Michal's computer was there too, which she was in the middle of starting up.

"How's public opinion?" Seira asked.

"Not good," Michal said. "While there are a number who support Michel, most of them aren't the sort whose support would actually help. The fact that the majority of mermaid 'enemies' consists of minorities while all mermaids are normative is really hurting our sympathy levels too in more direction than one."

"We need witnesses who can support Michel. I could make any member of the organization forget they ever saw me, but if my word is going to be worthy any thing, I need to be remembered. Besides, I'll probably make the wrong impression. " Radu said, gesturing at both her wings and her chest. " Do Lanhua or Alala fit the 'normative' stamp enough to testify? Heck, even Alala would do a better job."

"One more reason to hurry up and return their memories. Since you haven't done so already, should I assume they're working against you?" Michal asked.

"Partly. For one, yes, they don't cooperate and I can't put anything in their head ever since Alala figured out she can use her voice to cancel me out. Lanhua followed suit. Second, I stored the memories up in the sky cities, I can't just walk over and sing them back in place when Alala and Lanhua sleep," Radu said.

"But Michel said you had their memories. He can handle memories too, if they were up there, why wouldn't he just retrieve them himself?" Seira asked.

"Oh, I only put them there by proxy. They're not all the way up, just in an intermediate dream level. After the organization started chasing me, I thought it was best to hide them. Michel never knew that."

"Can you get them out by proxy?"

"It would be handier if we just take Alala and Lanhua up there. Like I said, being of similar origin, they can be immune against me if they want it and right now, the way we dragged them out of their lives combined with Michel's arrest doesn't make them feel very trusting."

Seira sighed. "Then try talking them over again. If it has to be, I'll take them up there myself. I'm not letting the organization mess with Michel anymore."

"That's something I'm sure we all agree on," Michal said. "I'll be coming with you. I have some questions to ask the Ancients that Vinata can't answer."

**· · · · · · ·**

Convincing someone who forgot their magic wasn't easy. Alala and Lanhua had lately been given plenty of reason to distrust magic, not to mention uncomfortable biases adopted from society. Radu, batwings and wrong body given, had a difficult time to convince them she wasn't going to seduce them for the purpose of making them ghouls or owning their souls. Seira might have had an easier time convincing them, being decently famous and of a less troublesome reputation, but she was preparing for their journey. Michal wasn't much help either, and mostly waited and trailed behind.

Eventually, she managed to at least get them to step into a gateway to the rocky coastline where Seira waited. The three of them stepped into the physical world, Alala darting forward excitedly while Lanhua stayed on the same spot. The sun was setting, coloring the sky in a distinct orange that matched the princess between them and the sea.

Seira was on a stairway of her own, leaning on a glowing step with one hand and a key in the other, raised up. "Ready to find yourselves again?"

The two women looked at each other doubtfully. Alala stepped forward first, leaning towards the stairs curiously. She held out a finger and tapped one of the glassy panels, which gave a ringing sound.

"This is like magically enhanced so it can't break?"

"A dream circuit is absolutely safe, I have never fallen off. You can't die in your dreams," Seira said.

"Actually, there are cases of people dying in their sleep and —" Michal started, but stopped herself. "This is totally irrelevant, isn't it?"

Alala straightened up and set her hands on looked at the stairway more skeptically, but only for a short time. Then she took one big step onto it and beamed when she didn't fall through. "This is neat! I can't wait to get my wings! Dragonfly, right? And am I also going to grow up?"

"Sadly, no," Radu said. "Spirit forms are very fixed and determine our physical bodies. If we had any control over that, I'd be a real woman by now. I can thank doctor Amagi for that."

Alala's eyes widened in shock. "There's some horrible truth behind why I'm loli-bait, isn't there?"

"My father made you and I don't want to know why he did it like that," Michal said quickly.

"And what about her?" Alala asked, pointing at Lanhua.

"Eh ... she's a very interesting take on split personality disorder."

Lanhua took a step back. "This is getting too freaky for me," she muttered. "If that's how it works, then that means that ... those things that Michel does are part of his nature? We're going to be like that? No ... my life is already shaky enough." She sounded like she hardly believed it herself.

Radu turned around abruptly, swinging her hand up to Lanhua's forehead and poking it gently. "You don't mean it, Lanhua." For a moment she saw some recognition, her emotions recalling what had no face, yet. But then Lanhua cast a doubtful look at Michal, who stood up and was looking up the stairway, her wings twitching oddly.

Radu followed her gaze and said, "Don't worry, you won't end up like Michel or like her. Michal's ... "

"A genetic garbage field," Michal said lightly. "Michel's a similar garbage field. You, Radu and Alala however are fairly stable, my father only messed us up cause his plot required it. Can we go now?"

Lanhua sighed and reluctantly closed the distance to them. Seira slithered farther of the stairs, giving room for Lanhua. Radu gave her a nudge with her wing.

"Come on, don't you feel it's familiar? We're going home."

"Feelings are a horrible guide," Lanhua said.

"In situations where you have a logical reason to assume danger or stupidity," Michal droned. "Here, we are stronger than you. If we meant ill, we could force you in a less time consuming way."

Radu groaned. "Michal, please don't."

Lanhua looked even less certain and now Alala was also doubtful.

Seira bent forward to lightly touch Alala on the shoulder and added her sincerest smile. "This key goes to a gate, how about simply following me there? You can turn back if you don't want to pass."

"I guess I should give it a try," Alala said. She took a few more steps till she stood before Seira, then looked back. Lanhua followed reluctantly, and then Radu stepped on. Michal came last.

"They've got wings, they can move up a little if you'd choose to go back," Seira said melodiously. Radu became aware that while not quite singing, she was invoking the a mild version of the complacency field. It was only barely noticeable because she could remember a stronger experience of the peaceful effect. She had never gotten around to experimenting on what the field's effect on partial Ancients was — assuming Alala, Lanhua and herself counted as such — but at the very least the basic effect she had witnesses of the field on Panthalassans was there. Alala and Lanhua didn't hesitate anymore and followed steadily.

When the dream circuit closed, Michal looked back. "Radu, is this really going to work?"

She looked back, seeing that Michal focused on the tiny pearl that lay cradled in the rock. "I'm worried," she simply said.

While alive, Seira could tinker with dream circuits well enough, but that wasn't exactly the same as truly accessing the spirit realm. There wasn't a clear distinction, rather an unclear one, but once past the vague perimeter it mattered. Some of the rocks down there were illusions, keeping her real body and her pearl from curious eyes. With Seira was the essence of her pearl, giving her shape in this realm as well as somehow holding onto the matter of everyone's bodies so they could manifest again without days of regeneration. She claimed it was safe, grabbing energy from a distance was something her ancestors had learned her during her captivity and using the Ancient's net to contain the energy. Radu however shared Michal's concern. Seira was no Ancient, she would need conscious control of the net. So far, the stars still burned, but if she lost touch with it ...

They passed from orange sky into eternal night. The sun became brighter and the world more quiet until sound beyond magic died. Once a straight line, on one side the horizon curved below the sun, while opposite the dim stars outlined the relative end of earth. Seira's stairway found their end at the gate.

The gate to the spirit realm was purely a aesthetic gesture, to remind dream wanderers not to pass by lest their soul was in danger. An artificial border, it was an elegant engraved circle as white as the moon, whose spirit was rumored to have carved it. Between the circle was just the night sky, yet one couldn't pass through it without knowing how to.

Seira set the simple golden key in the apparent nothing where it dissolved into a golden light, which in turn became a door. She pushed it open and stood aside while the steps grew into the next realm. "Come on in," she said.

Alala was through first. Barely had she gone through, or a show of sparkles surrounded her, leaving behind herself in her winged form and simple green dress. Looking over her shoulder and buzzing her translucent wings, she squealed.

"It's true!" She started buzzing her wings at high speed and jumped up, like she had done during concerts. Radu almost feared she might start singing here ... it wasn't the singing that he minded, but the stars. Oh dear lord, the tacky stars.

Lanhua was surrounded by orchid leaves instead, and took the manifestation of her wings and red dress with more grace and wonder. "I believe this is in favor of being more trusting to your story, Radu."

Radu smiled widened when she saw their beautiful wings return, how she'd missed them. Resisting the impulse to pull the two into a hug — that would have to wait a little longer — she passed the gate and held it open for Michal. Despite the circumstances of her soul symbiont, she looked thrilled. Radu could image that for someone with an interesting in magic and a bond with an Ancient, finally getting to heaven would be exciting enough to smile like that.

Their destination was just a short bit beyond here, not close to any of the still far away cities. When Seira slowed down, unsure where to go, Radu bypassed Lanhua and Alala.

"See that translucent patch up ahead?" she said, pointed towards a barely visible light area against the sky. Seira nodded and bent her path towards it.

Before them appeared nothing but an flat oval of light coloring, milky rather than glassy, but the moment they stepped onto it, the contours morphed into a small domed chapel. It served as a refuge and recharge center for those who had flown too close to earth, or dream wandered that had strayed too far and somehow passed the gate.

Radu turned to Michal. "Ready?"

She nodded; Radu hummed and sent her the star map she was to follow to reach the nearest city. Michal spread her wings gingerly and drifted away, forgetting to say goodbye. Likely she thought of this as just going into another room.

When Radu noticed Alala and Lanhua's puzzled looks, she said, "She's going to talk with the Ancients about something odd we found recently."

Seira meanwhile opened the door and waited for the others to pass by. Alala was first, followed by Radu, a reluctant Lanhua and finally Seira.

In here, everything was appeared as solid as the physical world, though the ethereal nature of the building was just as evident. White stone and wall paintings with a soft glow canceled out the need for lights. A circle of chairs stood at the center, round and floating in the air. A vase of flowers stood before a window, a single orchid stood in it. On the vase itself was the image of a dragonfly, which came to life as Radu stepped closer. At Radu's singsong command, the image had dissolved into an actual dragonfly and the flower drifted off its stem.

She turned to Alala first, letting the dragonfly fade into her mind, then the orchid dissolved before Lanhua. Radu braced in expectation of a glomping Alala.

Alala just asked, "Was something supposed to happen now?"


	32. Anthropomorphism

"You don't remember anything yet?" Radu asked.

"Nothing supernatural, nothing new," Lanhua said suspiciously. "What's going on here?"

"Those were supposed to be your memories, I know I placed them here!"

"Do you really remember doing that?" Seira asked.

"I'm immune to memory theft!" Radu almost shouted.

"But are you immune to being _given_ new memories?"

Radu had to admit that was not implausible and the idea horrified her. She started digging up into her memories, more and more and ...the memory of this location cropped up persistently, but she caught a glimpse of something behind it, below it. What she uncovered shocked her into silence. There were both memory clusters, right in her own head, bound by unknown magic and hidden under a construct that had her remember she had brought them here.

She felt caged, an old feeling finding a new form, Loyalty to a tyrant, trapped in the wrong body, trapped in heaven, trapped on earth ... she dove towards the door, wanted to throw it open more on instinct than reason. When she touched the door, the door was locked.

"Did you lock it by accident?" Seira asked, an uncertain tremor in her voice.

"There aren't supposed to be any locks up here," Radu said frantically. She jerked at the door, but there was not even a semblance of movement.

Seira carefully pulled her back by her wing. "Don't, we have to think."

Radu let go of the door's handle.

"Don't think, just stand back!" Michal's hollered outside. Before any of them had good and well done so, the door exploded and drowned out any questions.

In the dark outside, only a little lit from earth below was Michal's outline, lowering a bow. From the door stuck silvery remnants of an arrow.

Radu grabbed Alala and Lanhua by the arm, pulling them along as she rushed outside. Seira slipped out right after them.

The dim light had a reason : earth and sky were blocked out by a cave of monsters with Michal at its center, apparently kept back by her power. Some of the creatures looked entirely human, others were mermaids ranging from those Radu knew to strange, fishlike entities she had never seen before. These mermaids only shared one common traits : on their collarbones were embedded pearls, glowing in the colors of the seven seas, though far less limited to hue and shade. In the dark, their light was so demanding of attention that Radu didn't immediately notice that some of the humanoids had crosses on their forehead... Panthalassan spirits.

"What in heaven is going on?" Radu muttered.

Michal closed the distance between them, holding her wings wide and forced the mass a little further away.

"Looks like a revolt. When I arrived up there, some of the Ancients were working together with these spirits to overcome their majority. I intercepted a few who were coming here to retrieve 'the prisoners'. We should go back down and get Michel."

"Right," Seira said. "We'll figure out what this is about later."

She opened her stairway to earth, but barely had she done so or the mass flocked into it at a safe distance from Michal, right through the walls. Radu was horrified that they could do something like that, it implied a great deal of power. Seira however just looked confused, and Radu noticed only the malformed mermaids cluttered the path, not the Panthalassan spirits. Only the orange ones. Now these mermaids were intently looking at Seira, all their pearls glowing stronger. Seira had mentioned her ancestors as helping her, but not much more, so what was going on?

Alala was clutching Lanhua's arm with her eyes shot, while Lanhua was staring wide eyed at the spirits and muttered about traps.

"We are as surprised as you are, I promise," Radu said. She reached forward, but Lanhua stepped back, closer to the wall of the building.

"We have no time for this!" Quickly she drew them into her wings and forced their memories back into their heads. Too quickly, they became dazed and disoriented.

"If we can't go down, we have to go up," Michal said. "As long as we're in this realm, I can invoke some power of the Ancients on Michel's behalf. Let's find out what's going on."

"Then go ahead," Radu said. She took Alala and Lanhua by the hand and pulled them along. This time it was Seira who closed the caravan. The swarm of spirits followed as closely as Michal's shield allowed, the mermaids trying to herd them in a particular direction while the Panthalassans didn't quite seem to agree with that. There were a few struggles amongst them.

The closer they came to the upper layer of this reality, the stranger the universe around them started to look. Through the bodies around them, Radu saw glimpses of a structure encircling the earth. She also started seeing glimpses of the Ancients in their cities, who were outnumbered and held by the Panthalassans, if not enemies of their own kin.

As they ascended, the mass became scattered enough so they could see earth below them again, if only enough to see its edges. Far more prominent was the wheel that encircled the planet. A ring of unknown material slowly twisted around the planet, passing right below the celestial cities.

No, not just one wheel. Three. The first was still surrounding them, so large it even encompassed the moon in orbit. The second largest wheel's location was disorienting, because she saw it through the swarm of mermaids while the Panthalassan souls blocked it out. Squinting her eyes, she realized this wheel was within earth.

The smallest wheel was far off center, drawn into the middle of a city circle. This wheel was spinning slowly, but encased by a web of white thread that seemed to try and pull it in the opposite direction.

As they came closer to this wheel, they could see white dots moving quickly around it, attaching thread after thread. As they approached, Radu started recognizing them as sirens, the workers with halos, but some were trapped in the threads and were without their power. Their cries for help were ignored by the workers and the free Ancients surrounded the wheel.

Directing this group was a loud but small form with a familiar voice.

Michal stopped abruptly when she recognized him, Radu almost bumped into her. A waking Lanhua whispered, "Is that Fuku?"

This wisp of intentional sound drew the attention of the Ancients to them, who had so far been ignoring the mass below and around them. Now they saw their guests, they approached, manifesting weaponry as they did so. Radu recognized some of these faces, they'd belonged to Ancients less content with their fate, while others surprised her. There were even members of the primary council.

"What are you doing?" Seira demanded as the Ancients encircled them.

They said nothing, instead Fuku appeared before the group.

"Oh, there you are! You should have stayed in that little chapel, now I'll have to think up something else!" he whined.

He had lured them here. _Fuku_ had been messing with her mind. When? This question fell together with her once lingering curiosity of how the organization had found the ruins and managed to inhabit them ... how long had Fuku been at this? When had he gotten out of his — right, he had allies here. Nobody would have thought to check for traitors in the supposedly so divine Ancients.

No, no, this was just not acceptable. Fuku had been in her mind. Before she could find the words, the small siren continued.

"It was such a nuisance avoiding you down there!" Fuku blared, ruffling his feathers. "Especially with Michel going around! He could have smelled me and that would have ruined everything! Why won't you people just stay put?"

"Maybe we would if we had a good reason," Michal said.

Fuku closed his eyes and raised his head disdainfully. "You fools have proved you are incapable of understanding reason."

"And you have proved to still be a genocidal bastard."

"What? _Bastard_? How dare you imply I am impure! You don't understand anything!"

Alala regained full awareness at this time and turned incredulously to the nearest Ancients. "And you're helping him? So much for welcoming Michel back as one of you! That whole shtick with wanting him to be an emperor's fake too, I guess?"

"On the contrary, we are doing what is best for both our kin and life on earth."

Radu was not in the mood for some well intentioned speech. The Ancients that were on Fuku's sides were traitors, if anything. She had no interest in preserving their privacy if Fuku watching hatching another plot that involves genocide. Alala was starting a tantrum, and Radu approached, hands up to her shoulders as if trying to placate her. "Come now, Alala, be quiet," she said, drawing on years of training in acting. When Alala spun around, ready to blare at her too, she pushed her ahead so that the nearby Ancient got a face full of astral wing. At the same moment, Radu pushed after and called more than sang as she placed a hand on the Ancient's forehead.

Ancients were Ancients, Radu only had about three seconds to process what she got before the memory was reclaimed. The blasted her backward, not harder than necessary. They had no intentions to harm them.

_"I need Michel to stay put. I need the organization to figure out how to use the sea staff to redirect the field ... or least, that is what they will be thinking. Then I need a little chaos to make Lucia understand that she is the final answer of the world. She'll have no choice but to make everyone love her," he said cheerfully. "The wheel will spin faster and faster, till she is bored and then ..."_

The memory vanished from Radu's mind before she could process all of it. Fuku was close before her, his half moon smile growing wider and hollow eyes staring right at them. "You'd like to know, wouldn't you?"

"You had us believe you at least appreciated that Michel forgave you," Lanhua said bitterly.

"Oh, but I do! It had me realize that he truly can live up to the emperor! This is all for him and the world he wants, don't you understand? If this pulls through, he will no longer be held from taking his rightful place!"

"Some help! You had him abducted and brainwashed! And not just him, the entire organization! Michel killed innocent people that day because of you!" Radu yelled.

"Aww, lost some friends that day? I lost my emperor, I know how it feels. In fact, I understand far better than you ever could, because I lost someone so much better than your measly humans."

"You can't honestly believe Michel will thank you."

"No, I don't expect that. But this is not about me, this is about what's best for the world and that means also what is best for Michel. A little bit of suffering to make paradise happen is necessary," he said, satisfied. He pointed his wings at the few Ancients that had joined him. "They understand this too. The earth exists for us, and we exist for the earth. It's irrelevant that some developed a coping mechanism that has some of them believe it is not that way. They'll learn soon enough. Now, that is all I will say.

Fuku turned around and continued directing the strange weaving around the wheel. The Ancients backed off, but kept an eye on them.

Seira looked over at Michal, who made quick eye contact. Seira nodded at the nearest flock of ancestors and mouthed, _'they got me here'_. Michal shrugged, confused.

Radu edged closer and laid a hand on each shoulder. Michal got the hint and lent him some power of her halo, so he could use his skill without having to sing.

Seira had been helped to escape by her ancestors, despite this running counter to Fuku's plans entirely, so she suspected they had ulterior motives. Michal was of the opinion the same could be true for the Panthalassans, once Seira relayed her the entirety of her conversation with Licht. Radu threw in her own opinion, that didn't mean they were working in favor of ... what exactly?

Through Seira, Radu could understand the coarse song of the ancestors.

_Come with us and you will no longer be helpless._

They beckoned to her, and Seira was inclined to go.

Radu told her no, but Michal agreed. The Ancients were closing in to stop Radu from communicating, there was no time for debate. In high speed, Seira told both the following, " _I'm going over to them. I'll scream for help, but you must not give it. Say something about being loyal only to Michel if Fuku gets curious_. _Don't worry, I get into distress all the time. I was abducted before I was even born, and then I was born to take care of a ruined kingdom and destiny says I'm supposed to be in love with a sacrificial lamb. Distress is my thing."_ Seira reached down and fiddled at the star net for a moment. " _If they are intent on backstabbing Fuku, they will help me take off this net. If it does, then grab it, and take Fuku away from here. I won't need saving if it is as I think. See whether you can take his memories so we know what he's up to, and if you can't, get him to Michel as soon as possible. There's probably a good reason why Fuku went to such measures to get him out of the way."_

Before Radu had a chance to answer or the Ancients a chance to jerk Radu away, Seira shot off. All the orange mermaids moved towards her and she was swallowed by the mass.

"What?" Fuku called when he saw this.

The star net, still dimly glowing, was tossed out of the mass.

Radu flew forward and grabbed it. At the same time, Michel gathered all her energy and expanded her halo into an explosive ring, throwing back every enemy soul around her and leaving only one small range free. She was onto Fuku before he even realized it, grabbing him with both hands and ripping away his own halo. Radu reached her side as soon as the blast was gone, holding open the net.

Fuku screamed bloody murder, and some of the Panthalassans sped forward to help him, but the monstrous mermaids stayed back entirely, offering no aid. This left them plenty of room to escape and retaliate. Lanhua split up into a swarm of miniatures, each of which tackled the approaching enemies.

The Panthalassans spirits also moved to get involved, but something changed with the mermaid swarm, and the monstrous creatures engaged the Panthalassan spirits in battle, drawing them back. That left only the Ancients to attack, and they soon had other trouble when in the nearest city, the captive Ancients broke free. Radu had no idea what was going on, other than that getting Seira had apparently made the mermaid ancestors deem their alliance with Fuku's rebellion irrelevant.

They still weren't in the clear, since the rebellious Ancients hadn't had their energy drained like their captives. About a dozen pursued them, and Michal's arrows only did so much on incorporeal beings.

The Ancients encircled them before they reached the gate, and they winked out the dream circuit Seira had left there.

Michal spun another arrow, but held off firing. "Radu, Ancients can be affected by our powers, right? It's just that they have the same powers and cancel out whatever we do."

"Yes," Radu said. "What are you—"

Michal tossed her the bow. "Hold them off while I eat."

"What are you going to do?" Lanhua called while Michal threw herself on the nearest enemy.

"She's going to make sure she's got _their_ power. Alala, a diversion please."

The fairy didn't need another excuse to sing. She filled the area with a haze of stars while Lanhua's detached selves attacked whatever Ancient came too close. Radu managed to fire a few arrows.

In the middle of this, Michal learned how to absorb souls.

She only needed one to gain the power she needed. Manifesting a staff, she called to the others, "Hold on!"

Radu and the other three grabbed it, and with Michal they fell to earth.

**· · · · · · ·**

Those closest to Seira were the most monstrous, while those further away held an uncanny mixture of humanoid and fish features. A fleshy wall curled through them and separated the forms, as if they'd been sorted roughly and thrown into this dreamlayer to be stored.

"Why were you on Fuku's side when you helped me all this time?" Seira asked.

The answer came in the form of many whispering voices combined as one, "We were on Fuku's side because it was the only position of power. We helped you to the darkness because it would make you see what the light blinded you from. We needed Fuku to let us in here, and that just happened to include a hostile take over of the Ancient cities."

"Alright, so what are you fighting for, if not Fuku? And why do you look so different from modern day mermaids?"

"Modern day?"

Seira frowned. "You _are_ my ancestors, right?"

A collective laugh followed, sounding more like choking than it was human.

"Would it be be that we were your ancestors, then at another place we would be."

"Then who are you?"

"Those who would have been, had fate not been altered to what it is." A million hands pointed towards the wheel, where the remnants of Fuku's rebellion gathered to continue the work. The Panthalassan spirits formed a new shield around it, but the mermaid spirits no longer helped.

"But Licht spoke of —"

"The Panthalassans _are_ ancestors. They desire vengeance, or justice, on the sea goddess that cursed them. We however are the sum of futures that never were. There may be a thousand variants of one person across times in their life, or but a mindless shimmer of someone who could have been born. There is no energy for us to leave to any afterlife, for we never had a life. We live within the Rota Fortuna. And I, I am the one who would have been the 'princess' in this day and age and you would not have been."

That last was said by only one voice, coming from a mermaid spirit — an unborn — who emerged before Seira. Her head morphed into something which Seira recognized from herself, the curve on the eyes, the cheeks, as if someone had anthropomorphized her as a fish. It looked strangely small on the body.

"Become one of us," herself sang.

Thin fingers softly set on her back, arms and head, more on her tail, not allowing her to move back. The one before raised a hand with a glowing pearl in it. Seira crossed her arms before her chest. "Why do you want me to join you?" she asked with a shivering voice.

"So you may help us and we may help you," her other self said with lips too scaled to form coherent words, had this been the physical world.

Seira held her shoulders a little tighter. The one behind her said, "Afraid? Your own pearl will run out eventually, and even if we would let you go, the Ancients that aid Fuku will not. Your friends there only escaped because they cannot act directly against the power of their emperor, however indirect it may be."

"Could you at least tell me why you want me to join you?"

"You still have life in this world and can navigate the dream circuits. You would be our bridge to this world."

"For what?"

"To end our existence. In exchange, you will have the influence you need to help those you care for."

Seira couldn't imagine what it had to be like to exist like this, not even certain of one's own nature. Considering the change she had seen her counterpart undergo, it wasn't unsafe to speculate they were not just one alternate, but many alternates combined into one. When one couldn't even be sure of their own personality ...

"I need to know more. What exactly will happen if I don't?"

"Then Fuku's plot will succeed. Michel will be freed too late to stop it. All life on the planet will be destroyed, leaving room only to what Michel can create. Everyone who dies might end up with us, instead of moving on."

"But he can stop it?"

"As the only Ancient who can manifest in the physical world, yes. If he knows what to do before it happens, he could have. That was why Fuku and his allies arranged for him to be down on earth and restrained from returning up here. Here in the sky castles, Michel would have noticed right away. You see, the Rota Fortuna spinning this way means the world as it would have been logically starts to seep through, and Michel is part way of that world. They sent him down as soon as it became clear he was perceptible to visions."

"And my role in this would be?"

"To obtain our information and relay it to Michel, so he will take part in healing the Anima Mundi in a way to helps us."

"What is the Anima Mundi?"

"The soul of the world, that which Gaia can control by spinning the Rota Fortuna in unnatural ways."

Seira had heard some of this, according to Lucia the former sea goddess had said it was the world that had chosen her as the new goddess, and it had been Earth that had destroyed the Ancients in favor of humans.

"Are earth and the Anima Mundi the same?"

The heads nearest to her shook, as far as the thicks necks allowed. "The planet has a goddess, Gaia, like the sea and sky also have gods, but the Anima Mundi is the collective of life on her surface. The Rota Fortuna is used by Gaia to change the existence on her surface.

Gaia destroyed the Ancients, while Lucia was chosen by the Anima Mundi because Gaia created a soul so noble and pure that the mindless Anima Mundi would favor it to rule. She used the Rota Fortuna for this, making Lucia an airhead and inspiring Taki to keep her as oblivious as possible, and so easy to control. The former goddess, Thalassa, was too smart to play along. The Ancients died for being uncontrollable too, children of the world beyond as they are. Gaia dislikes things she cannot control, and Fuku found a way to exploit that."

The mass started to move apart, and Seira could look at earth.

"You have little more time to decide. Would you like to see what happens when Gaia's doll is cornered?"


	33. Nekton

Alone, Lucia lingered before the television in one of the smaller rooms of her castle. Beside her was a stack of papers that she had to read through and some needed signing after weight decisions, along with notes that explained things in layman therms. Somewhere around the fifth note, Kaito had started making cheerful little drawings to encourage her, but they hadn't brought Lucia much further than a smile.

She was watching a documentary about people whose lives had been affected by the meteor shower, and then switched to witness accounts from the few magically potent humans who remembered Michel's invasion. While the majority had been lulled to sleep by the music, a number had been in an accident, some fatal, because a monster appearing in front of a car and simply falling asleep at the wrong place.

She muttered corrections about everything and fantasized about making everyone get along. So now and then she looked at the stack of paper that was offensively unresponsive to her songs. The lights had turned off, not entirely on her conscious command. She just didn't feel like being cheerful, and the environment responded to this now she was a goddess.

So, when her room starting to glow, she noticed immediately. Confused, she looked around at the sourceless haze.

At first around her, the haze drew together into the form of a female Ancient, floating between her and the television. The winged lady bowed elegantly, wings flaring a little and passing through the nearby walls.

"I wish you well, Aqua Regina, and I hope you forgive my intrusion. My name is Yehariel and I request an audience."

Lucia quickly got into her role, turning a genuine smile on her face and raising from her seat. Vinata hadn't had any ideas how to make things better, but off course the Ancients up in the skies had held council and decided something. Finally some spark of hope!

"I wish you well too, Yehariel. Please, stand tall, there is no need to be so formal."

"Thank you, Aqua Regina."

"Lucia is fine. Please si— oh, never mind."

Yehariel smiled and pulled up her knees, crossing them. "I can sit, thank you." She folded her hands as well.

Lucia returned to her prior position, curling her tail below her and said, "What do you wish to tell me?"

"Have you ever wondered why Fuku decided to try destroying the world with those meteors?"

"Something about changing the world for Michel to rule, right?"

"Yes. To be specific, he meant to force him to take the throne by raising the cities of the ancients. The meteorites were taken from space, their essence from out this world and so not affected by the rules of this planet. They were meant too break loose the grip of the planet on the cities and return them to glory. You remember Fuku's story?"

"Earth betrayed you by changing its environment. Oh, I get it! So when that failed, he tried something else!"

Yehariel nodded sagely. "He did not fail. The foundation was made by the impact. The organization indirectly serves Fuku's purpose. We suspect Fuku has tampered with the memories of their leader, giving him the wrong ideas. Now his organization lives in the cities, they have inadvertently been working on their reactivation."

"Oh, I heard Radu say something about that, I think. Mr. Archon had his mind tampered with. But then why were they so cruel to Michel, if they work for Fuku and he wants to help him?"

"Well, Lucia, the reason they wished to capture Michel was to prevent him from stopping their evil plot of using the cities to conquer the world. Michel could control them if he were free. Now, they have succeeded at capturing Michel again and the raising of the cities will begin soon. Earth's atmosphere will be changed once more."

Lucia's eyes widened. "Oh no! What can we do?"

"Sing, Lucia. Sing for the entire world and unite them. They will release Michel and you will find a power in you to change the fate of the world for the better, like what happened to restore the world before."

"But ... I'm the sea goddess, not a fate goddess. I have the same powers as the former goddess and she couldn't change fate either. We just fixed the world a little ..."

Yehariel bent forward and laid an intangible hand on Lucia's shoulder, which she somehow felt anyway.

"The world began with the feeling of love and you, the goddess of the mermaids whose song convey love, you hold the truest power. Do not fear yourself. Sing and bring out the best in humanity."

"But ... that field, it can make people blind to evil if—"

"If it is evil that does not suit the Aqua Regina's plan? You know better than the former goddess, Lucia. Did we not tell you that we would await the day to be reborn? You can restore the world to the paradise it once was, for that is your destiny. You are not flawed like the former goddess. Linger no longer, goddess. Earth has chosen you."

Lucia shook her head, disbelieving. "I'm destined for a great sorrow, Taki said."

Yehariel solemnly said, "And so it will be, for you will carry the burden that the former Aqua Regina shied away from. All the peace of the world will be your responsibility. Now, please sing for us."

Lucia still hesitated. She trusted her friends to know what they were talking about, and while this sounded like what she really wanted ...

"I don't think I should ..."

"You are the chosen one of the world. Lucia, the world now cries for you to help it. Don't you hear?"

Something compelled Lucia to close her eyes and listen.

The cry first was a whisper, but the more she focused, the leader it became. The soul of the world itself cried out in pain.

**· · · · · · ·**

Courthouses probably didn't look like this for ordinary humans, but the elaborate contraption used to keep Michel captive had required them to keep the process in a hall. They had taken any of the gold that he could transform into weaponry and the halo, leaving him with no source of immediate energy. He still had his six wings, but with nothing to store _in_ them they felt hollow. A far away instinct nagged him to get more, but he kept it carefully wrapped up. Not now, not here, not these people.

A few meters next to him was his lawyer, safe from him behind the inner barrier. Everyone faced the judge, through the jury often looked at him and whispered so now and then.

Human trials, as it turned out, were very dull. His task consisted of sitting doing nothing while others talked. No one asked him to speak yet. He let the array of words wash over himself while mentally agreeing with some, disagreeing with a few if it particularly sounded like Michal saying, "don't be silly, you didn't do _that_."

The monotone proceedings nearly lulled him into a trance when he felt the first change. There was a tremor in the earth magnetic field, the birth of an earthquake.

Next, his link with Michal clarified by a hundred factors. Both were stunned to realize they could practically see through each others eyes. Michal was on her way here and felt like she desperately wanted him to understand something. Most he got from her were panic and memories of the event 11 years ago, clear but still meaningless without context.

The third sign was a flash of lightning and the change of the atmosphere. The sky turned a dark green, and he felt the world in its seams.

"What's going on out there?" One of the guards walked to a window, peering out.

"Must be another magical storm. Someone do something about those sylphs," someone suggested.

"It's not," Michel whispered.

Only his lawyer heard him and looked at him fearfully. "What do you mean?"

"I've sensed this before, eleven years ago."

"This was like you destroying the world?"

"Not quite. It's a mixture of the power that restored it, yet being executed like a dimensional warp."

The man shifted in his seat. "What-what is that supposed to mean?"

"That I've been an idiot. That's why I had to be locked up." The man's eyes widened when he saw Michel tense up, stretching his wings slightly.

"Now, don't do anything rash. Your standing in this courtroom isn't the best and you really won't help yourself by doing anything impulsive."

"There won't be any courtroom in a while." Michel stood up, putting strain on Fenrir's shackles. At once, the strain on the magic intensified and the judge ordered him to sit back down. Before anything came of a debate though, there was an alarm. Someone ran up to the judge to inform him of an attack.

Michal was here already ... someone else too.

The door was thrown open by a woman in a long red dress, blue and marine wings filling the door frame. Lanhua, with Michal a few steps behind her.

"The end of the world is going on! You need to release Michel," Lanhua announced evenly.

Michel didn't even need to speak for Michal to respond to his question.

"We're not sure, but Fuku is somehow trying to use Lucia's favoritism in the wheel of fate and the cities of the Ancients to end the world."

Another crack of lightning, then the earthquakes began. Hairline cracks appeared all over the walls, and the entire courtroom broke out into panic. Lanhua spread her wings wide and dissolved a few of her miniature selves, which forced down the people who threatened to bolt.

"Listen to me!" Lanhua called in a clear voice. "This is the forebode of the cities of the Ancients rising. Michel can stop them if he returns to his home in the skies. Let him go!"

The judge was the first to get herself together. "I do not know what exactly this is all about. Give us one reason to believe this isn't some magical plot to get him free?"

Michal stepped forward and took the bag off her back, pulling out the tangle of net inside it. She held it up, and Michel could see a few angry Fuku inside.

"This is Fuku, he is—"

"You idiots, I already sent my messenger to Lucia! If she sings without my control, the world can't adapt to the cities without Lucia's subconscious gaining complete dominance!" Fuku yelled.

Michal's hands clenched in response to their shared rage.

"Lord Michel, you can stop this if you just take control of the cities."

Lanhua rolled her eyes and flicked the net with her van. "Don't listen, we have a better shot if we take control of the Rota Fortuna."

That _wasn't_ just another fancy mystical concept? Michel had heard of the wheel, but it wasn't supposed to be anything important, just a ring of the soul of the world. Some thoughts of Michal seemed to counter this though, he had it wrong. It was something more.

The judge hammered for attention. "You cannot just expect to waltz in here and have a state prisoner dismissed."

The jury however was murmuring about what would happen if they didn't release him. Another tremor shook the building and the windows shattered.

"What justice would you have him receive? Lock him up alone? That is exactly what drove him to despair in the first place!" Lanhua called. "Or would you kill his body? He would regenerate, but it would be too late for him to stop this disaster."

The judge looked at her for a long moment, then sighed. "This goes against everything I stand for."

"Everything you stand for is a just world. Is it too much to break the rules if the world depends on it?" Lanhua took over the net from Michal and tossed Fuku before the bench. "Judge _him_ if you need a scapegoat. Unlike Michel, he was of a legal age when conducting his crimes. He knew exactly what he was doing and felt no remorse over it!"

Fuku managed to sit on on his feet, casting a quick look that Michel couldn't read before turning to the judge.

"So be it. Yes, I created Michel and he was what you would consider a minor." Then he started to smile. "Not that it will matter, you and your despicable excuse for justice will soon be eradicated. He can't stop it anymore. I'd thank you for your wasting of time, but you're not worth it."

The judge looked down, partly confused, but mostly horrified. Michel wondered why and Michal sent him a concept of Uncanny Valley. Fuku with his overly large head, reflectionless eyes and tiny nose and mouth looked unsettling to humans beyond belief.

Michal raised a finger, drawing the judge's attention. "Community service. Like, he stops the world from being destroyed. How about that? Don't worry about cannibalism accidents, that was entirely the fault of the organization that held him captive."

Another tremor shook the earth and a bit of dust came from the ceiling. Outside, something exploded. Inside, people were clutching seats for steadiness and looked ready to lunge at the doors. Calls from down the hall and those close to the windows told of a giant tower, no, several giant towers rising on the horizon.

Between the chaos, there was a steadily stronger melody. The earthquakes did not stop, but the song somehow gave the impression of peace. It was Lucia's voice, enchanting, divine, numbing, dissonant with the chaos.

Fuku started to smile. "Ah, my little rider of the apocalypse is rising up. Lord Michel, if you don't take control of the cities, there will be no place left in the world that doesn't revolve around Lucia. The entire soul of the world will belong to her. The consequences will be beyond simple unlikelihoods like all those princes and princesses being drawn to the tiny town in Japan that happened to be Lucia's home. See, Lucia fancies shall fancy herself the epitome of good, and she'll always need an enemy to highlight that."

What little power Michel had flared against the barriers. "What did you do?"

"I hijacked Lucia's fate route and made her desire for a solid enemy to save the world from, and had this desire manifest as the cities of the Ancients being freed. Off course, since the Ancients _aren't_ subject to that wheel, there is no guarantee she'll remedy it. Her destiny chips away earth's bonds on the cities, but the cities itself? You have to take them, there is no other choice."

"No. If it really is the Rota Fortuna that you are using, then taking the cities means nothing unless I use them to overcome the world. I won't."

Fuku never stopped smiling. "You will become the new emperor, or maybe the old one can be drawn from the wheel's past. You ought to understand though, it is Lucia's primitive _desires_ , not her true _will_ , that makes this come to pass. She won't necessarily create paradise."

The loving song intensified and it became harder to hear what Fuku said. The humans talked vividly, and any trace of inclination to believe the claims of Lanhua and Michal vanished. Fuku was ignored, Michel heard the whispers about Lucia's divinity and the vague evil that needed vanquishing. Rationality was less relevant than that delicious feeling of unity and right now, the vast majority agreed that the effeminate albino creep couldn't be trusted. The organization had done nothing but help them, while that fake angels was a total monster. They would not set him free.

The wall behind Lanhua collapsed and the judge hammered, eyes now harshly on Michel.

"I cannot allow someone like you to run free and threaten our people! Someone arrest these three..." she waved her hand at Lanhua, Michal and Fuku. " ... and charge them with—"

The shot sent the entire room into a panic and running. Michal had pulled a gun and started firing at the construction that held Michel. Lanhua split off a flock of miniatures that started dragging off anyone who threatened to interfere. Michel knew right away it wouldn't work, these were Fenrir's chains, but he set all his power against his prison anyway.

**· · · · · · ·**

Seira saw this and then every other destruction across the globe. Around the ancient cities the atmosphere started changing to what it would have been if Gaia had not cast away its inhabitants. Those who didn't die by choking to death inevitably ran into a morphing landscape or were torn apart as they were caught in the middle of two worlds.

Where the wheel had once turned against the Ancients, it had now been tricked in returning what had been on command of Lucia's desire, Lucia whose soul tore the wheel out of natural flow. Around Lucia and everything she was sufficiently aware of — her friends, her castle, Japan, the sea — bent towards her. The sea romanticized into a place without tangles, icky slimy things, sea pocks, tides that wore down castles, and the people in it simplified until they were but flat worshipers. The rebels turned identical to the others, and imperfections were smoothed out, whether in favor of good perfection or bad perfection.

Seira had no body to be shocked with, no point in screaming or anything else. She smiled in despair and thought, "I thought I was joking when I said drama always happened at the most inconvenient points ..."

Her tail lashed, she shook off the fingers on her arms and head. She had to think without distractions first ...

Michel right now had two choices, either take control or stop the wheel. He'd go for the second, no doubt. But stopping the wheel while Lucia was still in action could have just as disastrous consequences. What if the world was stuck in this state? Millions were already dying, humans and demons and spirits alike. There had to be some other way out.

Her enhanced eyes focused on the island of monsters and it had no future. Like Michal, they weren't considered relevant to Michel's future and a map had not been created for them. They were creations of the Ancients, like Michel.

The unborn mermaids followed her gaze, and on those faces that could muster expression she saw curiosity.

"They would never have existed if there had been no sealed Panthalassans. Neither would the new Michel. You can't know anything about him, but _I do_."

"What would you propose?"

"I want to do more than just stop the wheel. I know I can't personally, but there are three problems here. The cities of the Ancients, the wheel and Lucia not understanding either. If I accept your proposal, what can I change to save those who are dying from this catastrophe?"

"That is not our concern. We will help you secure that the wheel and only that."

"And revert the world to what it was? How?"

"By making it logical for the world to be that way. It won't quite be like you remember, but it will allow Lucia to exist. There is no way to escape Gaia's will, you'll have to accept that."

"Absolutely not!"

"Come now, don't bother with a speech about how there just has to be a way to cure everything. Would we be foolish enough for such idealism? Look at us, look at what we are."

Seira shook her head. "Idealism? No, I'm hoping you will be _desperate_ enough. Michel's monsters, Michal and the Panthalassans are immune, right? So are you. Gaia's influence is limited. Even if me and Michel and everyone fails, wouldn't you like to have a way to still do _something_?"

The mass looked at her expectantly and in silence. Seira took a metaphorical breath and manifested the essence of her pearl. It was already dimming.

"I wager you my life. You may have my future and my form if my plan does not work. Neither Fuku nor Gaia care for you, and you have no alternate plan ... but using this, you can escape into the real world, or at least the dream layer. The new orange princess is unborn yet. I offer you a back door."

It wasn't just her own life she wagered, but that of the unborn child as well. But in this stage, she knew life wasn't half as valuable as existence and freedom. She was willing to take the chance.

"What would you have us change about our plan?"

"When you offered to get rid of Sara for me, you created some sort of dream space. I want you to isolate Lucia. Not harm her, just take her away from the world. If I understand this right, even if Lucia were to stop enchanting the world with her song, the wheels would still spin to destroy it, but if they stop spinning _before_ Lucia stops, Lucia's influence will unwittingly envelope the entire world on the power of magic alone, except without magical safeguard. The result with be a lot of people realizing what she does to them, not to mention her inexperience with magic suddenly having realistic consequences again. In both case, there's world wide disaster."

"Ah, you want us to take her away right when the wheel stops. But we do not have the power to hold a goddess. She is one who could spin the wheel, if she knew how to, we are mere fragments within the wheel. But ... we could take her to the heart of the planet, Gaia's domain. What might happen there is up to anyone's guess. She will be cut off from the world above though, at least for a while."

"It will do. She won't be alone for long, I will speak to her."

The mass started humming, and the one before her said, "We will follow your plan."

Seira lowered her arms and the unborn mermaid laid the pearl on her chest.

It didn't hurt when it merged with her, save the snap of her life gone. The orange pearl was now in the hands of the one before her, while the pearl that had merged with her was the one that would have existed if not for fate's change.

At that moment, Seira became aware of a hundred fates that could have been her life.

In the one without Gaia's interference, she would have been monstrous but also magnificent. She would not have been a princess —they would have no such word — she would have been a guardian of the realm while rulership was with the wise and the elders. There were many varieties of this existence, one for every change small Gaia made. Some had her look more and more humanoid, the result of the timelines where ever the Aqua Regina managed to act in against Gaia for her own dream of the mermaid kingdoms.

There was a Michel in every timeline where the emperor died, and he was mostly the same and never like the emperor. Sometimes Michal was his host, sometimes another Panthalassan. The less interference of Gaia, the less likely he existed and the more the mermaid kingdoms were free. Those mermaids never did anything like seal the Panthalassans on the sea floor. There weren't even any Panthalassans, technically, the offspring of mermaids and humans that was the attempt of the Anima Mundi to bring peace to itself.

In the perfected future as Thalassa wanted it for Lucia and the others, the one only slightly influenced by Gaia, Michel would have returned much sooner to Seira. There would have been another ancient evil unsealed for them to fight against — Gaia had at least two hundred grand ancient evils stored around the globe for her games and had been considering releasing Dagon just to make the Arabian Sea situation worse — and Michel would find some partial redemption in this and stay to live happily with Seira. It suddenly seemed less ridiculous that two ancient threats had so shortly after each other appeared to haunt Lucia, despite the unlikelihood of them being common. More evils would come, yet mermaids would continue to be utterly inexperienced at the art of self defense and forever rely on their princesses with their magical battle songs.

Michel would never try domesticating his bloodthirsty side, which would sometimes arise at dramatic moments but always be subdued by Seira. He would smile, but never smirk. He would play the flute, but never build. He would never believe himself forgiven and stayed a humorless, pretty sufferer till the end of his days, Seira always there to be his light. The Seira of that fate could do so without succumbing, because she didn't have all that much to deal with. Her kingdom practically didn't exist. It never came to her knowledge there were those unhappy with the world and there were no rebels. After all, once she met anyone dissenting, her song persuaded them to be happy with her as princess, even if it did not fix their problems.

Michal might just as well not have existed in that world, but there was a slew of colorful characters involved in their stories, even red mermaids despite lacking an ocean and white mermaids despite not being an Aqua Regina.

After wasting her years with Michel and having some impossible babies, Seira would die young and beautiful to ascend with Michel to a vague afterlife, never wondering whether it might be better for the world if Michel, as the last living Ancient, would stay.

But Lucia's story would go on. After a few thousand years, Gaia would be bored and the Aqua Regina's influence would change. While Gaia had not yet decided what to do — either Lucia would inexplicably go evil or she would be reduced to stand by goddess like Thalassa — it would restart the cycle that she had never quite managed because Thalassa had been dead set on the status quo, not letting herself be manipulated.

That was why Lucia had been made to not be the brightest in the intelligence box.

It was in the unfolding of this fate that the Anima Mundi would die, and so would all souls that Lucia would not be aware of.


	34. Manifest

Despite the end of the world, Alala managed to both smile and bounce. Radu didn't doubt she was completely confident it would all work out, while Radu wasn't even sure whether the elevator in this creaking building would withstand the bouncing. When the doors opened after an eternity, Radu was out with the air.

"So, where are we?" Alala chirped.

"The intersection where the organization's staff goes home. We're looking up two friends of mine," Radu said stiffly. She just hoped this would work out.

As they walked, Radu hummed a particular tune that forced people asleep; during her years here she had programed it in virtually every staff member so she wouldn't have to sing an entire song to get the effect.

If everything was as it should, then she could expect to find Merron and Richard still here, at the evacuation spot. After consulted a computer, she found them in block five. They weren't the only people there, so when Radu complete with her massive batwings stepped in, there almost was a crowd panic.

She held up her hands and said, "Stay where you, I'm not here to harm anyone!"

Looking around the room, she saw Richard stand up. Merron was sitting behind him, a warm cup in her hands. Both had perplexed expressions.

"Merron? Richard? I need your help."

A few tense moments passed, then Merron said, "With what would a mind manipulating liar need help? Why not just make us do it?"

Radu rubbed her forehead. "I'm sorry I messed with your minds. Maybe I got carried away with making up a history for our friendship, but I had to survive and I could only—"

The cup slammed on the table. "You had us all by the strings! Get out, go back to your god and destroy the world!"

"Wait, hold it, Mincy Mellyson is one of you?" someone else in the room said, and Radu became aware of their audience. She was used to knocked people out before anything personal ever came up.

"I am!" Alala squealed. "And I'm not Mincy, I'm _Alala_ , here to _save_ the world, _not_ destroy it! I still give autographs though!" She buzzed her wings and twirled around, causing a shower of yellow stars. "Or I could tell you all what's going on and how you can help!"

This got a much better response than Merron and Richard. Alala was well known with the organization, but they had never been able to figure out what she was. Popstar magicals weren't common either, and now her reputation paid off. A few were savvy enough to wonder whether she was enchanting them, which she gleefully admitted to as being the power of Moé.

She got not only directions to Archon's place, but also an escort, leaving Radu alone with Merron and Richard. Once the entire room was emptied, trailing after Alala, Radu said, "Listen, I can't fake emotions anymore than they could with the sea staff. You were my friends, from your side and my side. You can trust me as far as you feel, so please listen. Michel isn't destroying the world, someone else is."

Merron shook her head and looked at the table.

"Richard?" Radu said hopefully.

"I can't believe _you're a guy_."

"Ugh. Someone finally put me to a DNA test or something? I'm anatomically male, but I'm planning on having Michel fix that."

Another awkward silence fell.

"And you're one of the goodguys now?"

Radu nodded. "Michel's claims about his age and mind control are true. Fuku was behind the first, the second and the current world's end. Now you have to decide where we all stand, because the forces that once cured the world are being subverted."

Merron stood up.

"Is your name really Radu?"

"It is now. My previous name was kinda tacky."

"Come on then. Let's go see whether any of Mincy's fans haven't gotten the idea to lead her into a trap," Merron said.

**· · · · · · ·**

Merron and Richard gave them clearance to pass through without being fired at. Though the organization had been in the process of tearing down statues and rearranging rooms, remnant energy still filled the blank space as it did the original statues. Disembodied eyes glowed everywhere as Radu and Alala walked through it.

The air in here was adjusted for Ancients and Radu had some trouble breathing, but not by much. Alala seemed to do a little better, possibly because her dragonfly heritage gave her a bit of a closer link to water magic and thus multi-atmospheric breathing. For herself and Alala the magic here was harmless and compatible, though, so Radu could afford to spend magical energy on breathing.

Alala's phone rang. "Lanhua? How's it going?"

"Not good. They can't get through that thing that keeps Michel imprisoned and there's an onslaught of cops and military trying to 'solve' the prison break."

"We better hurry," Radu said, increasing her pace. If only it wasn't so narrow here, then she could fly.

Most of the halls were abandoned, but Archon was still in his office. Radu heard his labored breathing before even opening the door.

Archon had an astral mirror in this office. He sat before it, clutching the sea staff and staring at the pulsing green sphere. It had changed since the last time Radu had seen it, now it had many extensions, forming a secondary sphere around it by many thin threads.

When he heard the door, Archon tiredly turned around.

"Ah ... I expected one of you. You are not Radu Chiroptere, are you?"

"I am now," Radu said softly. "But I am also Michel's servant. You know what I came for, do you also know why?"

He shook his head and returned to look at the mystery.

"I know nothing. I can't even trust my own mind. All this time, I liked to believe that with this staff, it was me who was in control. I'm not. Do what you must."

Radu didn't hesitate and stepped forward, placing her hand on his forehead while singing a few lines of her song. Archon's eyes widened.

"Fuku..."

"Yes," Radu said. "I did not look at the memories I unlocked, or called back, but I can guess what you see. Now, if you accept memories of mine, I can tell you what is going on, for as far as we know."

"It was all a lie," Archon muttered. "I thought _we_ were saving the world. We, _from you_."

"We once thought that too. We were saving the world from humans," Alala said. "So, will you help us set things right? You were used to trap Michel because only he can stop it, he is the only Ancient who can exist in both worlds."

"It's too late," Archon whispered. "We have sources all across the world, we know this is beyond us all, you included."

Radu reached for the staff and he let go without resistance.

"It's not too late yet. Set Michel free. We can still save this world. Maybe not all of it, but some. You won't have to pass to the next world with only guilt."

The old man smiled feebly. "I pass... you can't even save me, or you won't?"

"We can't do anything that matters without Michel," Alala said, missing her usual cheer.

"I pass, so there _is_ an afterlife? Even for us?"

Radu nodded.

"So those two are still your friends?"

"Merron and Richard? From my side, yes."

He turned in his chair and typed something on a nearby computer with trembling hands.

"Are you giving an order to set Michel free?"

"No."

"Oh come on! We don't have a giant magical naga available right now and no teleporting orange princesses either. Don't be stubborn!" Alala said.

Radu held up a hand and she silenced.

After a few moments, Archon said, "You can give the order yourself."

Radu looked at the screen and Alala leaned in. "What is that?"

"The rank register," Radu said. "Merron and Richard just got promoted all the way up as Archon's next in command."

"We can't fake emotions ... you might like working with people who can genuinely trust you." He coughed a few times.

"Thank you," Radu said with more sincerity than she had felt in years.

Archon spun his rotating chair and reached for a drawer.

"Alala, let's go."

"Is he going to be alright?"

"In my way, I will," Archon said.

Radu closed the door and leaned her back against it, wings uncomfortable pressed against the wall. Inside, there was a loud shot.

Alala's shocked face kept Radu from losing her own composure. "He'll be at peace."

**· · · · · · ·**

There was a click in the machine, then the forcefield vaporized. Michal stopped firing at once, only barely missing Michel as he shot out and grabbed Fuku by the head.

"I'm just doing the best for you!" Fuku shouted. Michel almost squeezed his head to a pulp, but stopped himself. Fuku would just turn into a spirit, so he knocked him out instead. Fuku didn't resist, didn't even try possession. This worried Michel. Before he could think about the implications of an unworried Fuku, a gateway opened nearby.

Out dropped Radu, Alala and two unfamiliar humans; one a curly blond figure in his late thirties, the other a brownhaired in her fifties. Alala held Michel's missing gold and halo, and glomped him in the same movement as she stuffed them in arms, while Radu held the sea staff.

"Michel, we have to save the world!" Alala announced with absolute giddiness.

"I know," he flatly said. He placed his jewelry back on, connected to the halo and then looked questioningly at Radu, then at the two humans.

"These are Richard and Merron. They have access to technology and magic from the organization and will be helping us. Where's Lanhua?"

"Driving a few armed humans down the hall," Michel said. "Speaking of that ..."

He set his flute to his lips and did two things. First he empowered Lanhua, then he projected his voice into the minds of the humans all around to stop. Now. Or else. He had no time to develop tact.

The trick worked, in any case, because the shooting in the building stopped within a minute.

But outside in the city, the panicked cries only increased. Michel continued playing and expanded his power, this time using a calmer voice to tell the humans what was going on. He didn't know how to sound assuring, so he just told them repeatedly the monsters that would show up soon would not mean them any harm, _let them help you_.

Michal took care of the conversation he wanted to have with the two humans, first informing them of everything, then asking them what they could do. They told her they currently had almost complete control, under Radu's technical supervision; Radu looked oddly pained at this. They wouldn't know how to use it to its complete resources, since they were just scientists and Archon probably was suffering from a lack of oxygen when promoting them.

Michal asked them to open a gateway between here and his monster island.

Richard nervously said, "Eh, we'll need magical coordinates, but yes, that should be possible. Why?"

"I will need our monsters and the garuda swarm," she said.

"You need monsters for what exactly?" Merron asked suspiciously.

"Michel can counter the atmosphere change from the inside out in the same way, though he won't be able to undo any side effects like hurricanes that are already happening. Once he has the cities under control," Michal said, tapping the sea staff with her wing, "it will be safe to bring people into the range of the cities, and we will use the gateways that your organization created. To make that happen, we will have to force them by teleportation, because most will neither be willing nor able to go to the cities. It's rough, but it's the best we can do."

"But the cities are causing the catastrophe!" Merron said.

"No, the cities are being used as tools by our enemy, but originally they are of the Ancients. They already exist outside of earth's fate. Michel can control them, but not what happens on earth itself. They'll be the safest place the moment we stop Lucia's wheel from spinning."

"Lord Michel, Michal, there are over 7 billion humans in the world," Lanhua said as she stepped into the room. "The amount of animal, daimon and fay life can't even be accounted for."

"Not lord. And his magic can span the world if he's got enough energy. If they hear his music, and we have a space where Lucia's song can't reach, then —"

"Hold it!" Merron said. "If it's Lucia's fate wheel that keeps all the negative effects from the world reformation low — if you want to call these effects low — then wouldn't it be better to let her keep going? She's a good person, right?"

"Lucia is a special favorite of who ever spins the wheel of fate. Now, Fuku weaponized her desire for an easily unified world by adjusting the wheel to free the ruins from earth's grip by having those take the place of the generic doomsday villain Lucia otherwise would have gotten. Lucia gets what she desires, but not necessarily in a way she wants. Whether she is good doesn't matter yet, she isn't smart to understand how to best be good. Her desire creates a puppet world where everyone is essentially trapped in their own bodies."

"I ... don't really get it, but that sounds bad," Richard said. "So, if I get this right, we gather as much people as we can near our teleportation clusters with the use of your monsters, and on signal we'll be teleporting them into the cities ... and you'll be organizing all of this how?"

"Hi, I am Michal Amagi. You've talked to me the entire time and may have noticed I have wings. That's because I'm the soul Michel was subtracted from. We're technically the same entity, just with two separate but connected minds and personalities. Through me, he'll be channeling his power into our monsters. Lots of psychic resonance going on here that'll be a nifty little network."

"You can't possibly have enough monsters to save even a fraction of life," Merron said.

"We can save some," Alala said, once more with breaking cheer.

Another earthquake rumbled. Michal took the sea staff and her forehead started to glow with the familiar Panthalassan cross. "You know ... we could get more monsters if that's what Lucia _expects_."

Michel had the exact same idea, couldn't even tell who had it first. The world already was dead set on seeing him an evil overlord anyway ... plus, it would probably be better if he had the sky staff, currently in Lucia's hands.

He left Michal to further instruct the others, had them create a gateway for him, and he was off to meet Lucia.

She was in France, probably because there were a particularly large ruin rising near Versailles.

The closer Michel came to her, the stranger the world turned. The city appeared cleaner, stank less, and the humans were curiously prettier. Even the natural disasters that the atmosphere change induced in other places was gone here.

Surrounding Lucia were adoring crowds whose French wasn't French at all, rather ... Japanese? In the past, languages were magically translated into whatever one hearer spoke, but now they were downright Lucia's preferred language.

Lucia herself was atop the Eiffel tower, a shining star in an already bright city. Michel bypassed a few helicopters that didn't respond to him like he was the scourge of the world, in fact almost ignored him, as did the mesmerized crowds. They only had eye for Lucia.

A decade with the picturesque ancient clan had smoothed out Michel's concept of divine beauty. Lucia had always looked somewhat juvenile and cozy, the sunshine girl you found on beaches in modern day. Now, she appeared like Venus, destined to inspire artists to wax poetically even if they weren't poets.

When she saw him approach, she ceased her song to smile radiantly at him.

"Michel, I'm so glad you're free! I know those people would see the error of their ways. Will you help me stop this terrible catastrophe? I called for my friends, but for some reason they don't come and I can't do it alone."

Michel came to a halt before the tower and held out the sea staff, which she curiously looked at. "Oh, you've got it?"

"Shall we exchange these? I'm certain I'll be able to help you better with the emperor's staff in my hands, and off course this one is yours."

"Naturally," she said, holding out the winged staff while gingerly accepting the finned one. She didn't appear fond of the spikes, but never stopped smiling.

Implausibly, one single human's voice came from below even though it shouldn't be audible up here, "But Aqua Regina, that person tried destroying the world!"

Michel looked down at the crowd, who looked entirely admiring save for that token strawman. When Lucia's voice chimed celestially about, "forgiven him and it wasn't his fault anyway", that token straw man shut up dumbfounded while the rest cheered for Lucia's wisdom. The very thought these people might draw out a month long trial appeared ridiculous. Seeing what Lucia's effect did to the humans made it a little easier to proceed with his plan.

Michel took a deep breath of the bizarrely flowery air and twisted his face into a wicked grin. Fuku loved exposition, this wouldn't stand out as unusual at all ... and it could clear his own imago. Some selfish part of him really wanted that.

"I'm not Michel, I'm Fuku. Now that you gave me this staff, I can create an army of monsters to conquer the world with. You idiot!" While flying away, he threw in some maniacal laughter for good measure. Lucia shouted something heroically, but he could ignore it easily.

As he dropped into the waiting gateway, he received a phone call.

"Michel, Michal's all smily and our monsters are rapidly duplicating. Why?" Radu asked.

"One, I have the sky staff and am providing them with the some base energy needed for that. Two, Lucia thinks I'm possessed by Fuku who is trying to conquer the world with an army of monsters, so fate obeys."

"What? Why on earth would you make her believe that?"

"Because she has no room for anyone saving the world who isn't a pretty mermaid, but she's looking for an enemy she can sing into submission and fix everything. Fuku uses the cities to embody her enemy as dictated by the wheel of fate, I just expanded the concept a little. Now send them out and have them gather humans. Don't hurt anyone, but don't worry about it looking like an invasion."

He closed the phone, wondering for a moment whether he could morph it into something less humanmade looking, did so, and dropped out of the space.

The organization's normal headquarters were just an average building pretending to be a law firm in a small city. Michel didn't bother finding out the country and just anchored the sky staff to earth's energies, took out his flute and forced his up into the heavens and around the world.

The clouds above started shifting until they formed a whirlwind that went right into the building's core, and it spread out Michel's flute song. Lucia's voice was overpowered a little at a time.

As he worked, Michel started to feel the blend of the two realities in his lungs, trying to adjust from one to another. The dream world, and the physical world; air and water; spirit and form. The world that was, and the world that would have been.

The Panthalassan heritage made him able to deal with shifting between both, but it was unpleasant, especially when the feeling spread to his spirit. In that other reality, he would never have existed. Instead, there was the emperor. Michel did not pay attention to him, he wouldn't live up anyway. Didn't want to anymore either.

The cities existed in both realities. In one as glorious sky cities, their spiritual print matching those that drifting in the stratosphere.

In the world he came from, the ruins and their dream counterparts were now starting to blend as well, trying to become one with the older world, but he forced the atmosphere to stay the same. Oxygen not just for the humans, but also every animal, tree and everything else that lived in this reality.

Fuku had placed himself as controller, but with the expectation that Michel would take the reigns.

The little devil had been true, he had done this all for Michel, and it had worked. Here he was, taking over the world.

He couldn't afford to act on the rage he felt, but back in the courthouse, Michal shot Fuku through the head and announced that now Michel was in charge of the air, the net could be fixed to — yes, it worked — keep his soul trapped.

During the hours it took to fully control the cities, Michel's monsters flocked together maybe a few thousand humans and animals. The garudas with their massive size also managed to bring in large amounts of plantlife. In a way, he was building arks.

On the horizon the shifting world was encroaching, behind it the nomansland between Lucia's limited awareness of the world and Michel's equally small grip on the cities.

While he stayed in one place, Michal expanded her wings to cross the edge and help those who needed it. Through her he saw what happened. Life shifted in and out of existence, once a normal scene, then a death when a living creature wandered into another piece of reality, then a broken body torn in a changing world. There was so much life he wasn't aware of. They weren't gods like this, they didn't know the world enough to save everyone.

Michel himself now idly played with the idea of letting Lucia have it her way. The destruction was caused by Fuku misspinning the wheel of fate, but if that corruption was taken away, and likewise for the former Aqua Regina's desire to keep the mermaids below the sea, ... could a completely pure wish for good not make the world a paradise?

Still, it would just be the power of a wheel, not of a god. Right now, he wasn't sure whether any measure of god even existed.

When the sun set undisturbed over a fractured world, Michel closed the ruined cities. There was no more life left, and the wasteland had come to the borders of the cities. It was nothing but a strobe of plasticine paradise and psychedelic hell.

Lucia's song still rang across the world. It was softer now, but whenever it resonated with a fleeting bit of world, the sound tore apart.

Michal and Radu had combined power to direct the cities, which were slowly moved towards each other from all across the globe. By now, many humans, especially those near windows or astral mirrors, were starting to understand they hadn't been imprisoned, but rather saved.

Michel passed Radu's suggestion to address them, he wanted to go to the sky castles and he'd just fail at a speech anyway.

"Yes, you've done all. Let me and Radu handle it from now on, Seira is waiting," Michal said.

He didn't bother voicing his disbelief. He had thought Seira had returned to the oceans, which were mostly unaffected by the world shifting since Lucia governed them more directly.

"Yes, Seira is with the others. Not the princesses, but her ancestors. She's up in the skies."

"Then why did you let me think she was safe?"

"Because you would have stayed here, knowing it was the best thing to do, but you'd do a lousy job saving the world because your mind would be with her."

She was right, but that made it no less painful.


	35. Cognescence

Constant identity was a fruitless effort amongst the unborn. Those who had enough consistency clustered around Seira, but she still needed guidance from her other self to clearly speak with them. She had an easier time sorting through the tide of knowledge of alternate realities than their disjointed words. The few that had enough identity clustered around her, but still needed the guidance of her other self to address her.

Many did not agree, and they constantly had to remind their other selves of why they were here and what they were doing. Seira alone had enough clarity to not lose her senses, and only so because on earth her pearl still existed.

She and her orange kin waited for a chance to move and she hoped for Michel to arrive, but the Panthalassan spirits waited for someone else. Until then, they swarmed around the celestial cities. The shortened crosses that were their mark had burned into the doors, locking the Ancients inside. There were millions of Ancients, but a billion Panthalassans. Even if one Ancient needed a hundred Panthalassan souls to keep them contained, there were enough.

From her distorted other self, she learned that Panthalassans had come into existence some time after mermaids had turned more humanoid. Panthalassa meant all oceans, and when Gaia broke apart Pangaea, the sole continent so long ago, it separated the once unified mermaids. The Anima Mundi itself had brought them into existence to unite land and sea, born from humans and mermaids, their purpose to tie together land and the separating seas. This much she gathered from the memories of the orange swarm, but it left so much unanswered. Why had they come now, had Fuku summoned them? Where had they come from? Seira didn't have the slightest idea of where the paths of the afterlife led. Had it been this easy to return for spirits, she would have expected every mermaid princess to be haunted by Panthalassan spirits pleading for their descendants to be freed.

"The Aqua Regina prevented them from reaching the planet," said a familiar voice. Seira startled when Sara suddenly was at her side.

"What? You? What's —"

"Going on? Well, your new kingdom whispers, and as an orange princess I can hear," Sara said, gesturing around her. The unborn mermaids kept at a distance from her, weary but not aggressive. Sara didn't acknowledge them further, and set sad eyes on Seira. "If I had known you'd go this far, I would have paid more heed to our plan's side effects. I am sorry that you've come this way."

"But not sorry for the world?" As if she didn't know the answer.

"Off course not," she said. "But for your sake, I'd like to tell you what is about to happen. We are aiming to lure out Thalassa in a position where we are immune to her fate. She naturally has a wheel of her own, which she can use to influence the surrounding world. Even if the Panthalassans are not directly influence by her aura, she can turn the tide against us by depleting spiritual energy."

Sara paused, expecting Seira to catch on.

A position where Thalassa couldn't influence the world meant the presence of Ancients, who were entirely immune. Sara's stunt in the Indian Ocean and Gackto taking over Michal, who had blood of the Ancients, had been a ploy to lure out Thalassa.

When Seira realized the implication, she couldn't stop her rage from leaking into her other self, who started hissing deeply. The unborn swarm at once turned against Sara, but the former princess nimbly darted out of their reach. She went closer to Lucia's wheel, a shield of Panthalassans rising behind her.

She turned around, smiling sadly. "Seira, you need to understand these are my people as well," she said softly, spreading her arms to gesture at the Panthalassan spirits. "It is not only vengeance we seek, but also salvation. Thalassa should hold fate in her hands no more than Gaia or Fuku deserve it. Some suffer now, but we sin for the greater number that will come to be."

Gackto emerged behind her, laying an arm around her waist and casually looking over at the orange swarm. "How are negotiations going, my beloved?"

"As expected, my dear daughter and her new people find it difficult to comprehend. They did not even let me finish."

"Well, Seira, as Sara was about to say, once we have Thalassa, we will retreat. The Ancients will be free to cut the wheel loose," Gackto said amiably.

"Every second you wait longer, more people die," Seira whispered, less in an effort to convince them than just to express helplessness. That helplessness mingled with rage, and then she found the words she sought. "You two are playing necessary evil, so we won't have to? It's not really for our sake if you can't let us make the hard choices. You don't care for the world, then stop playing with the world. If Thalassa is such a danger, then let us deal with her!"

"Maybe you all _could_ deal with Thalassa, should she become a problem once more. But vengeance isn't a negligible part of our deal," Sara said easily as she leaned into Gackto's embrace.

"And here I am, about to be erased from existence without even an afterlife to look forward to, because _you_ couldn't be bothered to be open with me and the other princesses."

Sara's smile finally faltered. "You don't _have_ to be erased. If Lucia remakes the world without either Gaia or Thalassa, then it will be one where you can exist. She won't care for the logic behind pearls and undeath."

"At the cost of self awareness? I've seen what my life would be like, and I've seen what will happen to the souls around Lucia if her subconscious will ends up shaping the world. There would be life, but it wouldn't be me or any of the others. As it stands, I'll cease to be no matter what."

Without a further glance, Seira retreated into the swarm. The others surrounded her with their chaos, and Seira couldn't help but perceive all Sara's possible realities. Worlds where she stayed with Gackto, worlds where she returned with Taro, worlds where she and Gackto were released long before Fuku set his plan in motion and so fought against him, worlds where they avenged Thalassa before Fuku even got a chance to plot anything. Worlds where Sara and Seira had a bond of trust, and worlds where Sara gave up on Seira.

Thalassa stood at the source of some realities, and at the root of others was Gaia. Seira saw glimpses of her only when Thalassa fought her for the control of a wheel of fate. The images of earth's goddess fleeted away from memories, like she was never the same. Even less visible was the struggling will of the Anima Mundi, subjected to the whim of two goddesses.

The more she saw, the more she was insignificant.

How long passed in this way, Seira couldn't tell. One thing that was unknowable here was time.

"Ah, our guest of honor!" Gackto's voice suddenly rang out.

" _Michel is here. Thalassa is here. It is almost time,_ " the unborn whispered around her.

Seira struggled back to a singular mind and found her other self separating before her. They looked at one another, confused before they found their identity. Then they moved to the inner edge of the swarm, which lay like a half egg shell around Lucia's wheel. The Panthalassans lay in a thick ring around the wheel now, together with the rebellious Ancients, who likely had no idea they didn't fly side by side with devoted allies.

Below the wheel was the blue of the calm Pacific Sea, edged by distorted land. From there, two glowing forms rose up rapidly. One was tinged green and pale white, she recognized Michel.

The other was tinged radiant white and golden, this was Thalassa. She looked as splendid as ever and had no trace of the sea about her. It only now occurred her how strange it was that she had no tail, ever.

They must have met on the way up here, though why Thalassa came only now, or at all, was a riddle. She couldn't directly envision the goddess's actions when none of the orange mermaids were visible to see it, after all.

Michel arrived first, his eyes darting across the scene before him until he found Seira. He changed course to her, and Seira moved lower to meet with him. The mass around reluctantly let go, though she still could feel a hold on her.

"Seira, what's going on?" He reflexively tried to embrace her, but when he found her to have no substance even to him, shock came across his face. "Are you alright? What happened? You don't feel like you're here."

"I'm not alive nor dead, I think. I don't know what I am right now." There was a shiver in her voice betrayed fear she hadn't realized before, an emotion like lost amidst the memories of lost realities. "It's all been one sick joke by the gods. Lucia's destiny, the entire mermaid world, even us two. I don't know what's real about anything."

That wasn't quite true. She was painfully aware of multiple realities and knew exactly which was true and which false right now. It just was that she wasn't part of any of them anymore. The longer this went on, the worse it felt. She now understood why they were so desperate to cease existing.

"Seira, I can't hear you."

Oh, like she needed another problem. Sara and Gackto had understood her fine, so why not him? Had something changed? Behind Michel, she saw a horrified Thalassa come to a half below the wheel, and from the Panthalassans emerged a man she ... the king she had once fought. The sinner who she cursed. Perhaps his arrival had something to do with it, or maybe Thalassa was using magic to counteract her enemies? Whatever it was, it wouldn't do.

"Seira?" Turning her attention to Michel, she reached for his hand. There had to be a way to will contact now they were up here. If the other unborn could create prisons to hold souls, then this should be ...

Her hand solidified against his and she took hold, gathering in her mind everything he needed to know. The very thing that had prompted him to return to earth had been leaking information from a satellite, so this should work.

It worked too well.

Michel passed out as Seira passed on all the knowledge she had of the situation, including everything she'd seen. He went limp and started to drift back to earth. Panicking, Seira tried to force herself into greater solidity. She didn't quite manage, but the other unborn were more experienced. They flooded around her and grabbed his wings, holding him up.

A quick glance ahead revealed that Thalassa was in a debate with the cursed king, Gackto and Sara floating on either side of him. The traitor Ancients were becoming restless as they noticed more Panthalassans were flooding towards the debate, abandoning their post at the cities.

"Michel!"

His eyes flickered up, and Seira would have breathed in relief if she had lungs. The others let him go and he stayed up on own strength.

"Ugh, I loathe this ... _we_ loathe this," he muttered. "If Michal hadn't had something similar like this, I'd probably be out still."

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize it'd be this bad. I just needed to share the information quickly," she said, then remembered that didn't work.

She took his hand again, this time trying to keep her head clear with just her most recent words. He winced as if in pain, but then said, "I think I understood that. Don't worry, we can deal with it. Michal recently figured out how to hide things from me."

His blue eyes were unfocused though. Likely he invoked Michal to help sort through the knowledge.

She couldn't help but laugh a little. We. She felt like having jumped a bandwagon, Michel and Michal had been dealing with cross-leaking minds years ago already.

Her counter self was also feeling something, but it was more like anxiety. Her eyes were focused on the Panthalassans, who were slowly blotting out earth by now. They had surrounded Thalassa, who shone brightly through their translucent, misty bodies.

Michel turned around now, eyes turning sharper again. She followed his gaze to the still entrapped wheel. The Ancients around it drew closer to it and tried paying attention both to the Panthalassans and to Michel.

"What now?" he asked her.

She carefully, with one finger, touched his wing. It was more a gesture than any real control, but her intention seemed to work.

What she relayed him was how the wheel worked : like with a carriage, the wheel carried one across a road, the road being the planet, the one representing life. Taking control of the wheel away from life was unnatural, but possible, and the wheel was necessary for movement in time. The road had no business driving the car. Right now, Fuku, Thalassa and Gaia all vied for control over Lucia's wheel, with Fuku having most through his machinations of the Panthalassans and the unborn mermaids.

Speaking like this was beneficent now, she could also tell Michel the plan with risking anyone hearing it. He would have to sever the threads around the wheel and at the same moment, she and the unborn would bring Lucia somewhere to prevent her from taking charge of wheel while still in this dangerous mind. Her momentum right now was that she wanted to force unity in the world.

"And what can we expect where you'll be bring her?"

_Gaia._

"Alright. Then let's hurry this up. The longer it takes, the worse it becomes down there."

His flute morphed into a sword, and he charged right for the wheel.

A mass of Panthalassan spirits came in his way. He didn't hesitate to cut through them, but though they were intangible, they formed a thick mass. Where Michel could normally move like through air regardless of where he was, now his progress slowed as if he was deep below water.

"Don't waste your time and precious energy, sky lord," a loud voice called to him. It was of the old Panthalassan king. "We will not let go until Thalassa is gone. She might just try to seize the wheel back. Don't you realize that?"

Seira was pretty sure she and her followers could prevent that, so she followed over Michel. He had to go onward.

But Michel now turned towards the congregation around Thalassa.

"Are you mad? You helped Fuku gain control of Lucia's Rota Fortuna just to draw out Thalassa? Have you even seen what this did to the world?"

"We already had this conversation with Seira, it was quite fruitless," Sara said. "You ought to worry more for what will happen to Seira if you set the world 'right'. She took a form that cannot exist within order."

Michel froze.

A more ideal Seira might have encouraged him quietly, but there just was no time. She shot at him, set her hand on his shoulder and had him know she absolutely wouldn't tolerate him being someone who'd consider the world less than this one person he happened to care about. To her relief, he now gripped the sword with two hands and resumed struggling towards the wheel. She caught a wisp of pain and sorrow, but then he was out of reach.

"Oh come now, we were having such a fun trial," Gackto said, sounding merely amused. Seira guessed that he was just humoring the other spirits by drawing out whatever they meant to do. The king at his side had manifested a staff with a cross atop, like the Panthalassan symbol, and stamped it on an illusionary floor every time a servant spirit read something off of a translucent list.

Seira met Thalassa's eyes, found them defiant yet a little frightened. There was something inherently compulsive about her, begging to be adored, but it was a tiny feeling now. Behind Seira stood the hate of the unborn. Thalassa perhaps had not been at the root of Lucia's creation, but she'd been behind the warping of the mermaid species, and so had a hand in the creation of this ill fate.

Michel met the Ancients that stood guard, who either backed away hesitantly or tried to speak to him, telling him to return to earth and finish. He would have to be there to properly integrate his will into the new world Lucia was creating, he didn't want her to take control of the skies too, right? He had to take it all, sky, land and sea, but he had to be there to subvert Lucia's flawed rule. It was not entirely truthful in the implication that Lucia could affect the cities of the Ancients, and Michel knew so too.

He laughed sardonically and said, "Well, too bad I just convinced her I've gone evil and am possessed by Fuku. Wonder how that'll integrate into her story?"

They drew back in shock and confusion, and Michel rolled his eyes. Had they honestly expected he'd go along quietly with their plan?

He reached the first white thread, razor thin and shining as it emerged from an apparent nowhere. With one swipe, he cut through it.

"I suppose we'll have to cut things short," Gackto told his ancestor king. "Wouldn't want to be left here without any Ancients or other things that work against our behated goddess, do we?"

The king had a lot less humor about it, discontent eyes on Michel. "I suppose."

He snapped his fingers, and the Panthalassans flooded away from around Lucia's Rota Fortuna. Michel was left to enact his growing rage on the strands that tied the wheel and the Panthalassans threw themselves onto Thalassa.

The unborn told her it was time to leave. They would yet have to find Lucia, but Seira couldn't tear her eyes from what was happening before her. It wasn't every day one saw their goddess executed.

The Panthalassan spirits now had Sara in the lead, who fell onto something just before Thalassa. Under her touch, a ring manifested around the goddess. It lacked spikes and a center, its engravings were unique to her and it moved in her accordance rather than a stagnant spin, but it was unmistakably the Rota Fortuna of a goddess.

The Panthalassans spirits glowed brighter and contracted until they only consisted of the glowing crosses on their forehead. By the hundreds, these fell onto Thalassa's Rota Fortuna. It broke like crumbling ashes under their weight, and Thalassa screamed. The crossed formed ropes around her, holder her arms down and preventing her from fleeing. A sea of light was formed around her, contrast all the sharper by the presence of the dark unborn. The quiet whirlpool of crosses was like stars in a peaceful meeting, but the fear on the face of the goddess told anything but peace.

Gackto and his king came to stand before her while Sara fell back.

"I remember seeing you for the first time," Gackto said to her. "You were so glorious and divine, who would doubt your wise words? You told Lucia that a certain Gackto and his minions threatened the peace of the sea a long time ago and you had to seal us for our crimes. Funny, since our clan was sealed ten thousands of years ago and the seal existed at my birth already, waiting to separate me from my twin. Tell me, do I have an ancestor incidentally named Gackto, which you conveniently forgot to tell Lucia about?"

"Yes, I lied," Thalassa finally said, an edge of defeat in her voice. "It was important that Lucia understand the gravita of her mission. What I did was for the sake of all mermaids. Isn't that exactly what you are doing now? The mermaid kingdoms know no deep misery, deception, depravity or —"

"How nice that we at least agree on how to ... handle the world. We however never made anyone permanently suffer, like you did when you sealed my descendants. Is that not right, my children?" the king said. The mass of spirits shouted a million times yes and drowned out Thalassa's answer. Or perhaps it was another scream. The voices of the Panthalassans turned louder and primal till it was nothing but a shrill cry.

Sara still moved away, towards Seira now. She raised her hand and below the drone of voices, Seira heard the starts of words.

"Seira, please don't end yourself ..."

That too was a conversation they'd already had.

Seira abruptly turned away and let the unborn surrounded her. Her last look at heaven was on Michel instead, who was still cutting the threads with monstrous dedication.

Her own last look wasn't the last she got, though. Through the eyes of her other self and more, she saw the cities of the Ancients opening as the crosses left their doors. The Ancients poured out, all towards Michel.

Meanwhile, the goddess' soul was torn to pieces by a living fire. Once, doctor Amagi had died by becoming that same fire, and later extinguished himself in order to end the emperor. Lacking the power of emperors, many Panthalassans would have to cease existing in erasing the goddess, which was a cold consolation for Seira.


	36. Veracity

Lucia had moved on to Italy by means of a magical cloud, her song ongoing as she chased after the drifting ancient cities. She didn't teleport, fearing she might miss one of those dreadful things on the way.

They were like islands in the sky, surrounded by monsters that herded people in. Despite all her power, she was unable to approach them. There was a barrier she could bypass if she sung with enough heart, but once inside her powers did nothing. She had no authority over the domain of the heavens. That wasn't right, she remembered she had no trouble singing in Michel's realm all those years ago.

She took a break atop a pretty building with a brown dome roof and white peak, where she manifested her phone. Again she tried reaching the other princesses, but somehow it was like reception was really poor where ever they were. She tried calling a phone nearby, and that worked without hitch. Probably Fuku had done something to block transmission.

For now, all she could do was purify as much areas as possible and hope to meet the other princesses along the way. Surely that would happen sooner or later, it always did.

After fruitlessly dialing Kaito's number, the six princess numbers _and_ the shared number of Hippo and Yuri, she gave up. Around the building, adoring crowds had gathered again and she smiled at them while magically hiding the phone. The sun was shining brightly onto the scene, it was hard to believe there was a catastrophe going on. Still, on the horizon she could see the ominous gray ruin a few hundred feet above the land. Its influence was so severe that even the blue of the sky above it was missing, instead showing the deep dark of night, just like the one she'd seen in England and France.

Lucia frowned for a second. Was it supposed to be day right now in this country? It had been the same shiny day at the Eiffel tower, and ... and wasn't there another country between France and Italy? What was it again?

Oh, Licht had once had a mansion in Switzerland. She'd completely forgotten about that country... shouldn't moving from the Eiffel tower to Italy lead her _across_ the Alps? She hadn't seen any mountains ...

She looked north and spotted a range of mountains. Oh, there it was. Just now. What was going on here?

The adoring crowd below didn't seem to be aware of any problem. She leaned forward a little and was about to ask them about whether the Alps really were this close by when everything tore apart invisibly.

Threads that Lucia had never known existed slipped away.

Every single sensation of the ocean crashed down on her, beyond a thousand details demanding her attention. Governing the water no longer was a song, it was endless needless pinning and stretching her power across the entire globe, thinning it, imprisoning her. The staff in her hands grew from comfort to sucking power out of her.

The world suddenly looked a lot less smooth, the people below a lot less beautiful and the mountains to the north turned into a black inferno of chaos that cut off from her senses.

It became a reality that she stood on a domed roof and gravity didn't bend to her anymore. She slipped off and tumbled to the ground. The mass of people moved to catch her and she landed in many arms, which lowered her to the ground. Lucia was too numb to respond to their worried questions. Water existed everywhere. In the air, in the people around her and also ... in the ruined city to the south. It was no longer a terrible blank, her powers freely extended within it.

More of the invisible threads severed, and before her eyes the sunny sky turned to evening. The time of day matched the time on the watch, which she saw on the hand of one of the people around her.

She tried sitting up, but suddenly felt like she'd been running for hours. In a way, she had.

There was screaming nearby, people pointing to the north. Her translating magic still worked, but bits fell away. They were calling about walking mountains?

Another thread disappeared and she felt thirsty now.

In the night sky, chimera monsters emerged, illuminated by the flickering lights of the city. A winged crocodile passed over with a swarm of oversized wasps, which began picked up panicking humans. Then the stars vanished under magical darkness and the thundering voice of a garuda sounded.

"Don't resist. We will bring you to safety in the sky castles, the chaos cannot reach there!"

What was going on? She was supposed to be the savior.

Another strand broke and she felt an increasing weight coming down on her spirit.

Most humans around her ran at the sight of the monsters, but a few remained. A hand was held out to her and she let herself be pulled to her feet. Her other hand held the sea staff, which she had to lean on.

She took one step before a new darkness surrounded her. The hand holding hers changing from human into a slimy, monstrous thing.

Staring at her was a distorted, fishlike face of something that couldn't possibly be a mermaid, yet she felt it was one. The pearl on its collarbone was without a doubt in resonance with her power. She wanted to believe this was just a trick, enacted by evil monsters under Fuku's remote command, but it didn't become true.

Frightened, she tried pulling her hand free, but the grip was iron. More of the monster mermaids emerged around her, more hands coming holding her arms. She was pulled into a whirlpool of colors, first orange only, but then joined by six more familiar colors. The whirlpool bore straight into the ground and closed above her.

A disorienting silence fell around her as she was torn along. She gripped the staff closer and set it alight with her power, which was less easy now she couldn't make any sound. She managed nonetheless. The monsters waved back from the force the staff radiated, but only shortly. The long fingers returned again, now all focused on the staff. Lucia was about to try creating a protective shield around herself when from the mass, a normal mermaid emerged.

It was Seira. Or at least, it looked like Seira. She had no necklace, instead her pearl was embedded on her chest, with markings around it akin to those of the monsters.

Lucia tried speaking, but again couldn't form any sound. Behind Seira, a tunnel of the monstrous mermaids opened, leading to a bright green light. Lucia was still pulled down, and as she came closer to Seira, the orange princess held out a hand. Lucia took it, and at the same moment, a sensation of being flooded with knowledge happened, not unlike the sudden sensation of the seas.

There was no sound here so she would not sing, a trick they had just recently learned from Panthalassan spirits. Only in her head she could hear, and so Seira spoke with an echo of the swarm around her repeating every word.

"Lucia, I don't know what you'll find where we are about to bring you. Whatever happens, do not let yourself be bound again to your Rota Fortuna. You should control it, it should not control you."

With this, Seira sent her images of a wheel with eight spikes, which was surrounded by a thick weaving of threads. The threads were being torn away, and she realized this was why the world was failing around her.

This was all wrong. Seira as she knew her would never try to convince her to stop making the world a better place.

"~ No, it's not. You'll get used to the real weight of the goddess power, I promise. You will thrive beyond what you lost just now. It won't be easy, it never will be, but when you become who you really you can bear it. For now, you just need to control of your wishes so they won't shape the world into chaos. Do not listen to Gaia. ~"

All the while, Seira's mouth never moved. She had an assuring smile under desperate eyes, but didn't really speak. It was like someone had made a very lifelike doll based on Seira. Lucia pulled loose her hand and placed the sea staff in between them.

There was nothing that needed to be controlled about a wish for a good world. This was all some sort of trick.

"~ It is not! ~" a shrill chorus of voices call. Seira looked sorrowful as she fell away, vanishing into the swarm. Lucia was left with the mass pushing her towards the green light while their voices droned in her head. "~ Don't be a fool, young goddess. The threads of fate are your undoing. When they were severed, you could finally sense the water in the sky castles, could you not? Your wheel had been manipulated so you could not use your power within the convinces of Ancient realms, corrupted by Fuku for his plot. We would know. We helped him. If there is one benefit to being exiles of fate, unborn to life, then it is that we create a vacuum to those within fate. Without your wheel manipulated, the world won't bend to you, you will bend to the world. Be a servant to be free, be a master to be enslaved. Do not listen to Gaia. ~"

None of this made sense. She squeezed her eyes shut, but only succeeded at blocking out sight of the monsters. The green light became all the brighter in their stead. It even shone through her hands, which became strangely translucent. Only the sea staff had some solidity. She held the finned top before her eyes and tried to invoke its power. What little she could concentrate on was too slow to escape. Maybe if she had had more time.

The halo of green intensified, and she felt like she had been cropped into a tiny ball by great gravity, only for the pressure to suddenly be relieved and a cold void allowing her to expand again. She unfolded like a rose and was met with a hellish sound penetrating everywhere.

Fire. Heat ... how could heat even have a sound? The ripple of heat a thousand times the sensation of fire, sight, sound, feeling, all in one.

Lucia was caught between a sense of despair and the need to be angry without having the personality for the latter. The world was throwing her around like a rag doll all of the sudden, when just before she'd finally been convinced she finally knew what to do. She pulled up her knees, trying to fold back into herself. The outline of her dress curled up like a petal, and she realized she could see it through the fire.

Then a little later, she could see the fire clearer too. It was magma. With effort, she sharpened her senses further.

There was outlines faraway, somewhat familiar. This was the surface of the earth she was seeing, the oceans specifically ... from below. Between here and there was layers of solidity surrounded by liquid mass. The world appeared at peace now, none of the chaos remaining. Cities of humans and fayfolk alike lay to waste in a radius around the path she had trailed across the surface. Several small countries around it had been turned to craters and the alps had broken in half.

This couldn't be what she'd done, right? It had to be something Fuku's evil plot was doing, and it had only happened around where she was singing because he tries to stop her. Right?

Then why had those monsters and garuda looked like they'd been saving people? She tried seeing more details, but instead gazed beyond the surface.

Above the earth's crust was the outline of sky cities and beyond that the stars and moon. There was also a set of rings, four of them in total. One above earth, one just below the surface, another ... no, _thousands_ or more. Rings here, rings there ... she couldn't count them all.

The rush of water and tones of earth mingled down here with the heat and her finally senses solidified. The burning heat became irrelevant as a spherical dream world formed around her. Still nothingness for eyes, but she could imagine shapes in it as she attached herself to the dream layer more strongly.

Below her was the green light like a sun in a void. The more she looked, the less relevant the magma was to her senses. From within the light strings were spun to the surface of the planet. Each went to the ruins of the cities, but most has snapped and drifted on the motion of the mass. Only those leading to ruins that hadn't entirely been broken free were still attached.

"A most sad sight, is it not?" a gentle female voice said from the center of the light. She floated closer and within the light, a form became apparent.

She had a light green tint both in skin and waving hair, a warm smile on her face and open arms. She was not unlike the former Aqua Regina, statuesque and in a flowing regal dress, imposing yet motherly beyond belief. Lucia was overcome by a desire to throw herself into the light and let her tears go. In this space, Lucia's empathy was almost as strong as when she had seen the fossil of the emperor of the Ancients. That had to mean this was another creature like her, another god.

"Poor thing, your fate wheel is lost entirely to you. Now how will you move through the world? Does the sea not weight you down?"

"It's exhausting," Lucia admitted, but she felt too happy to let that bother her. "You are another goddess like me, right?"

The woman nodded and waved her closer. "Yes, I am the oldest goddess of this planet. You see, all planets have a deity to keep them intact and at home. I am the one of earth. I am Gaia."

Lucia came to a halt before Gaia, feeling much like a child. Still, she recalled the importance of respect. She bowed to Gaia, during which she spotted a second humanoid spirit. A pale young man with white hair who appeared fast asleep, wrapped around him like a hammock or blanket were threads from Gaia's dress. Lucia felt momentarily drawn to him, like the sea to the moon's pull, but then Gaia's gravity took over again and he wasn't important anymore.

"The moon," Gaia said while running her hands over his hair. "Be silent, please, he needs his sleep. You too look like you could rest. Those dreadful things that tore you here must have stolen so much of your power, it was your fortune I managed to save you. Did they tell you any lies?"

Lucia nodded. "They even created a fake Seira to talk to me. That's silly, off course. I'm sure she's with Radu and the others, working to free Michel from Fuku's control. Fuku is trying to restore the kingdom of the Ancients again and ..."

Wait, she was talking to the goddess of earth itself. There was definitely something she'd been wanting to know, and surely one question wouldn't take too long.

"If I may ask, why did earth have to let the Ancients die so the humans could live? Why not make the humans in a way that they could live side by side with the Ancients?"

Gaia gave a hearty laugh. "Oh, I _am_ Earth. Our are the sea. These forms here? Avatars of the forces of nature."

"But ... you are ... "

"What will you call me? Villain? Ultimate Evil? Any of the other things you've been taught, you gullible little thing? You did not even doubt me when I implied the things that brought you here were the enemy." The comforting tone didn't disappear from her voice, and she kindly looked down on Lucia. Her aura did not cease to be loving.

Lucia didn't know what to make of this. Maybe she just was having a terrible nightmare. Nervously, she laid a hand on her head, a futile gesture against the pressure that was still building up. Maybe her brain couldn't handle things and she was delirious.

Gaia pulled her her legs, crossing them as she sat on the nothing. Her long green and blue dress whirled below her, growing to a pasture of crystal grass. The moon's avatar was buried below it.

"Why don't you sit, Lucia? I'm to talk to you, now that you are here anyway."

"Talk? About what?"

Gaia clapped her hands together.

"Can you see it now?" Lucia looked up and saw a particular ring in the sky cities highlighted.

"That is yours. Thalassa stole it from me, like she stole the wheel of the mermaid species. Maybe you'd like to have it, but then I'd lose more of my entertainment. So I decided to tell you the truth."

Lucia felt the crystal grass below her bare feet, cutting through her flesh. Gravity pulled her down and she couldn't float away. If she understood right, she was in the dream layer yet awake, so why did she feel pain? What was going on?

"Ah ah, don't despair too quickly," Gaia said with bright, sparkling eyes. "So, Lucia, have you ever noticed that the world revolves around you?"

"Huh?"

"Fate is awfully convenient for you, don't you think? The map of your future was full of contrived coincidences from the very beginning. Just how big are the chances that the mermaid princess from across the world would just end up near that tiny shore in Japan? Just how big are the odds that the one free Panthalassa prince happens to meet the destined goddess at an early age? Just how likely would it be that he happens to live near the place you hide on land? Do you know how much countries there are? You do understand what a billion is?"

"I'm not good with maths ..." Lucia muttered, but she was starting to understand what Gaia was getting at.

" _Off course_ you are not good at math and other intelligent things. That would make you catch on too quickly once you ascended to godhood and fell outside of range of the ... you call it complacency field, I believe. I call it aura of smooth."

"Why?" Lucia whispered, taking a few steps back. She left behind blood that burned away into glowing dust.

"Why what?" Gaia, smiling radiantly.

Why what, indeed. Why was Lucia like this? Why was Gaia telling her this? What was up with the wheels of fate? Why had an Ancient told her to sing if it caused so much destruction?

Gaia tilted her head to the side, curious and friendly. Nothing about her matched the cruel words she spoke. Or at least, the things she implied.

Confused, Lucia returned to the one question she'd already asked. "Why did you kill the Ancients?"

"They bored me so much."

"They ... bored you."

"I hold the greatest power, yet my power is solid and I can only use so much without risk of destroying myself. Would I want to dispel my atmosphere, I would have to tear apart myself. In contrast, my husband held comparatively little power, but he all of it was at his command. Yet he would not entertain me."

Here was the first emotion that Lucia felt from Gaia that wasn't pure joy and benevolence : just a tad of irritation. And just like that, the irritation dissipated, like it had been plucked out of Gaia's mind and thrown away.

"Your husband? Something like Father Sky?"

"We were a match made in heaven, he and his people sent down to me to give life to my barren surface. Before, I was like them," she gestured at a mirage of the other planets, dimly visible only because Gaia highlighted them, "but as the world gained a soul, I gained awareness. And then I wasn't allowed to do anything interesting!"

"You mean the Ancients?"

Gaia nodded warmly. Lucia wished she'd at least _feel_ malicious.

"But the emperor prayed for —"

"He should have realized I would not let his prayers pass and move on with the others of his kind."

For once, Lucia's rare anger won out. "What's wrong with you? How can you betray those who loved you so much? Don't you know how worried the Ancients are for what humans are doing to earth?"

"Oh, but I love them back! You know, the world began with love," Gaia said musically. "It was their love that brought life to my surface. Love is one of the best emotions available, I make sure to have it in me at all times. The Ancients are still there, are they not? I betrayed them not, I just set them back a little. They can see as much as I can. Except off course for their emperor, my dearest. He took to praying to the creator for an answer. I ensured the questions did not travel and when answers came nonetheless, I held them away."

"You killed him!"

"No, I _kept_ him. He was always safe in my embrace, even if a little ... immobile. It was your boyfriend Kaito and doctor Amagi who killed him."

Lucia vividly remembered what she had felt emanating from the fossil, an abyss of sorrow in a soul who didn't deserve it. Tears started to well up. "You can't love. How can you make someone you love suffer so much?"

"I believe the concept is poetic," Gaia said, that kind smile never failing. Gaia's eyes closed, her expression gleeful as if she were talking about the antics of a child on a summer's day. "Humans possess a wonderful concept of suffering beauty, but it was me who developed it first. I liked to reach into his mind whenever I was interested in the emotion of sadness. Ah, he could not even truly hate me! I did not let him. Isn't that magnificent? He was unbreakable! At least for me. And now all the world is my box of sensations, open whenever I desire a more complicated experience than just being the earth. You would get bored too, if all you ever felt was the tides. To have a mind without stimulation available, that is one feeling I have no choice about, unlike the others."

Gaia's arms reached wide and her hands grew into long root-like extensions before constricting again. In the embrace of her arms manifested a translucent form, shimmering and on fire. It was the form of Michel ... _emperor_ Michel, Lucia realized. He had darker colors and a more truly androgynous face where that of clone Michel had traces of Michal's femininity. That was as much as she could see, for his form was disjointed like a melted puzzle that didn't fit together anymore : an arm a little sideways, a wing twisted upward.

"When the fossil shattered, he suffered true death," Gaia said gingerly, her hand gesturing at the breaks of on the form and took a bit of fire between her fingers. "The best I could do in patching together the astral remnants. It was unavoidable that little bits of doctor Amagi got caught up."

"You're not sad?"

"I don't like to have that emotion, so I make my body so that I will not experience it. Happiness is truly the very best thing that the Anima Mundi has brought me, I am very kind to it for that reason. I do enjoy diversity off course, which is why I domesticate _all sorts_ of emotions in those that matter to me. Those make the Anima Mundi interesting and manageable." Her hand stroke the specter's long hair, then casually dismissed it. The form broke into crumbling pieces.

So this was what it meant to be a god. All mortal sensations were just as easily shed as ornaments. Off course gods would be too large for simple feelings about single persons. Love really was just an asset, and not a meaning to life.

Lucia wanted to revolt to all this, but she didn't even have words, let alone a song. How could she talk about hope and love to someone who didn't need them to be strong? What song could she sing to invoke the goodness of the heart when the owner of the heart could selectively shut off inconvenient feelings? It would be like arguing over wardrobe. She started trembling, crossing her arms over her chest to clutch her shoulders in an effort to keep her composure. The sea staff drifted before her, but she feared using it now. What if she became like Gaia? She'd already caused chaos, hadn't she?

All seas in the world were hers, but the earth was so much larger. She couldn't change fate, because others made it as it was. She was the plaything of stronger gods. She was small.

Gaia ranted on cheerfully about how she had been interested to see the emperor revive, knowing that that silly construct preceding him wasn't vicious enough to kill the humans by changing the atmosphere. When the emperor had returned to life, he would have stood in a world that hated him and a world that he hated to see suffer. She was certain that in exchange for spinning the wheel backward to undo all, he would have let her have him again. He would have been even more miserable than before, much to her artistic delight.

Oh, and wasn't it nice that she spun the wheel back for the world after Lucia and the others had won? A world that slowly destroyed itself was so much more fascinating than one that was off the map right away. Also, Lucia's choice to drop the masquerade had made her excited, because the whole world had just been set back a few centuries on therms of equality and peace, all in the name of the love that mermaids were meant to spread. That was better than the plot Gaia had planned out for her.

That said, now that Lucia was here, there would be little point in keeping her in the opera's story. She was a flawed goddess, since she couldn't escape being a person.

Lucia realized her feet weren't bleeding anymore. That was because she had no feet. She had no body at all.

She'd fallen apart to nothing but a cloud of mist, finally reduced to just how small she really was. Gaia's hands grew out again and gathered her into a tiny speck.


	37. Indeterminismus

There were different threads, Michel realized as he got closer and closer to freeing the Rota Fortuna. Some were clear artificial, but others originated in the wheel itself and led to earth's seas. If he cut those, they regrew on their own accord. He let them, assuming they were her tie to the seven seas.

When he cut the last alien thread and turned the sword back into his flute. The wheel didn't immediately stop spinning, but from Michal down below he learned that the chaos was slowly subsiding. Seira and the unborn had succeeded in isolating Lucia then. Michal also let him know Kaito was trying to contact him. She herself had had a partial seizure when Seira had leaked him the information she'd obtained, and hadn't been able to reply when he called her. Since she'd been in the air at the time, grabbing a paper and pen and having someone else talk for her wasn't an option.

The Panthalassan mass was thinning away and he could see the sky cities again. Ancients flooded out and were busy apprehending the traitors amongst them. Without Panthalassan and unborn help, they were a helpless minority. It was a bleak comfort that most of his people had been sane enough not to work with Fuku's depraved plan.

"Lord Michel! Are you alright?"

From above a flock of Ancients descended, sharply contrasted against the dark universe. He recognized the three leaders that had once brought him to these cities.

"No need to ask how I'm doing. Worry about Lucia. She was brought to Gaia's inner sanctum by Seira and her new allies. I plan to head there myself with her wheel, but I want to bring along Kaito for her."

"The Aqua Regina is _where_?" Ayemoel said.

"I just told you," Michel snapped.

"But why?"

He pointed at the still spinning wheel, irritated at the waste of time explaining required. "As long as Lucia is in the world, she'd still continue distorting it in the momentum of Fuku's machinations on her wheel, but with Fuku's threads gone she would no longer be excluded from affecting the area in and around the ancient cities. You may have noticed that's where we brought the survivors, that that I put my power in every single of those cities. Handing them to Lucia in this state would be a disaster. Now get me in contact with Kaito."

Jemearaiel shook her head. "Only Lucia, Sara and Seira can create a dream gateway. If Kaito teleports right into the earth's center, he'd just die and his spirit would be up for grabs by Gaia. It wouldn't help."

"Where did Sara go?"

"I believe she and Gackto took the paths of the dead just a few minutes ago."

"Where?"

"There are a few ten thousand other Panthalassan spirits on the paths of the dead right now, finding them would take too much time. Besides, I doubt king Gackto would want you to endanger his brother. You must go now, we will accompany you."

"There's an organization on earth that can creature portals—"

"They won't have a gateway into the heart of the planet, or they'd have a gateway that could reach us in the heavens. They didn't know about us, did they?"

Michel didn't like this, but they had a point. Michal even confirmed that even with the technology of the organization, they wouldn't be able to pull it off. Gaia was hidden too deep.

He grabbed flew to the center of the eight spikes and put his strength into getting it to move. The flock of Ancients around him joined in and soon, but not soon enough, they had it in increasing motion.

According to Ayemoel a wheel of fate should reside around the residents of earth invisibly, existing on a layer beyond the dream and spirit world. The fact that right now the Rotae Fortuna were visible within this range of existence meant a problem. Thalassa was gone, her they couldn't ask anymore. And asking Gaia about it ...

"Are you sure you should be coming along? I Gaia was strong enough to trap the soul of the weakened emperor in a fossil, then she will not have trouble entrapping any of you either."

"We will keep our distance. Gaia will be with Lucia, you must separate her and change her resolve."

"Are you nuts? The only way I change people's resolve is by implanting emotions in them, and that won't work on Lucia."

Though, perhaps Seira could talk to her. This thought had him mentally buckle back to when Sara had told him Seira's fate. Her words had called forth the information Seira had quietly let him absorb, and he understood the implications perfectly well. He just didn't want them to be true. Setting the world right meant losing Seira, and he couldn't back out of it. Seira wouldn't allow it, and neither could his conscience.

Seira knew Lucia best aside of Kaito. He himself planned to deal with Gaia.

As they left the heavens, he almost switched back to material form on instinct, but managed to keep spirit form. Earth was approached with dizzying speed now, and the wheel shooting back in line with one particular thread. It had turned on its thin side and would have cut open earth had it been solid.

Below earth were a few layers of the dream world and hidden spaces of the fayfolk, but after that there was only pitch black for a long time. There first glimmers of astral light came in the form of eyes and pearls in the colors of the rainbow. From afar they appeared like stars, but when they approached the bestial mermaids behind them became visible. The other Ancients were visibly shocked at the sight.

"Don't worry, they're on our side now," Michel said, indicating the mass where it parted to let them through.

"These are the new allies of princess Seira? I'd hoped perhaps it were some renegade Panthalassans who had changed their mind after all."

The swarm blotted out a green light, but the deeper they went the more translucent the forms became. Michel instantly recognized it, this was what he'd seen in the ruined city. This was the heart of the planet, or the goddess Gaia herself?

The mermaids closest to the center held onto threads of fate similar to those that Fuku had used to manipulate the wheel. The threads were shooting out of the light, putting up a fight to each the surface of the planet. A few of them escaped to latch onto the wheel, and almost instantly Michel and the Ancients lost control of it. It burned below their hands and they had to let go. The next moment, the wheel was swallowed by the light.

Michel kept going, but the closer he came the harder it was to orient himself. The light was blinding and encompassed them. He could have been lost in it, if not for someone taking his hand and pulling him to a particular point. He recognized Seira's touch.

She wondered why only he and the ancients had come, he leaked back the information about gateways. Seira quietly agreed with his planned course.

The further they went, the most often he felt a sensation of passing by threads. Some were thin as spiderweb, others thick as pillars. It had to be a maze, but Seira seemed to know where to go so he let her lead. A specific thought leaked through her hand : he had to keep his spiritual form of an angel, because he was just too inexperienced to retain a clear awareness in a purely abstract form. She'd learned this from the unborn, who in turn had learned it the hard way.

Gaia was this light and she could use both form and abstract existence to her advantage. He whispered this to the Ancients behind him, and they confirmed. They themselves could handle abstract existence for a little while, but had not done so for too long. They assured him though that Gaia would want to face them in a recognizable form. Life and personality was her addiction.

"Why didn't anyone tell me about the mad goddess in the core of our planet?" Michel said with a biting tone. "So much for me being an emperor when you can't even tell me everything I need to know!"

"Would you have been able to sit still and let her exist after you learned of it? Gaia is necessary for this planet to sustain life, and confronting her would only provoke her."

"She can't be killed?"

"She is not like the ever changing seas with its queen goddess and princesses. She just is Gaia."

"I take that as a no," Michel muttered. "If this light is her, does that mean she can understand what we say?"

"Likely."

"Alright. Gaia, stop messing around and face us!" he called.

"Lord Michel, I strongly advise you to be more tactful. There is no winning over her."

"Remind me against how your last emperor died?" Michel asked sharply. They didn't answer.

The light shifted and dimmed to the point of allowing a visible sphere. The surface of the planet was visible in outlines against the universe, but they had no chance to really look at it. Before them appeared a womanly form with green tint and a constantly morphing dress. The dress' outer hem stretched to form a floor of emerald sand, but Michel didn't stand down on it.

"Oh, more company! Even the new emperor!" Gaia said cheerfully. "The new emperor and his people, all the way here! I have not met angels in such a long time!"

She didn't appear aware of Seira. Perhaps she acted, but Michel thought it was best not to take any risks. He loosened his hand ever so slightly and Seira let go.

The other Ancients formed half a moon behind Michel, posing him as their leader. Well, so be it, but he wasn't going to play the _polite_ leader.

"Maybe it's the death part that made them feel unwelcome," Michel said. "Or perhaps imprisoning their emperor's soul after you killed him."

"Yes, so it is," Gaia agreed solemnly. "There is also supposed to be a barrier to prevent curious dream wanderers and spirits lost from their path. How exactly have you all come so far?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

Lucia wasn't visible anywhere. Either Gaia was controlling what they saw, or she'd lost her form. In that case, he couldn't find her, but Seira and the unborn could. Seira wasn't around anymore right now, she'd surely already started searching. Michel dearly hoped Gaia really was oblivious.

"Looking for Lucia? No need, I'll put her back in the world once she's interesting again. You can go home."

"I didn't just come to get her," he said with a smirk. It had just occurred to him that if Lucia had an empathic sense, then Gaia might have one too. They were both goddesses, after all. If he was going to divert Gaia, then he had to feel absolute convinced and certain of his cause. Michal, who was currently successfully leading the garudas on their protection missions, was readily supplying that emotion.

Also, he couldn't afford to feel like he was about to lose Seira. Both for the sake of her going undisturbed and for his own ability to function rationally.

"Oh, you wish to try overthrowing me? How daring, to go against the will of our Creator. I am older than any of you, I was made to sustain this planet and—"

And there Gaia readily provided something to be intensely angry about.

"Wait, what? There _is_ a creator?" He looked over his shoulder, lowering his wings so he could see the other Ancients more clearly. They looked somewhat defeated. "Any reason I wasn't given a clear answer on _that_?"

Gaia laughed at that. "And here I wondered why you never did not tell you. You see, I don't send prayers for others and you do not know how to send it on your own. Though, if you had tried, I would have answered in stead of our creator. Maybe I could have gotten you to worship me."

"You—"

"No, actually, our creator does not care what I choose to do. As long as there is a steady supply of life and a glimmer of an Anima Mundi, all is well. You poor little thing, you don't serve him by doing the 'good' thing and stop me. I'm not even doing anything wrong!"

Maybe he would have felt intimidated by that, but a combination of a far away Michal having a steady mind, the damning knowledge he couldn't fix fate without erasing Seira and a close semblance to how Fuku and doctor Amagi had manipulated him kept him grounded. Whatever inferiority he felt, it was overpowered by rage.

Gaia meanwhile kept that disturbingly serene expression on her artificial face. She sickened him.

"Pathetic, Gaia. You're trying to talk me down? I spent the first years of my life being miserable and it helped me nothing. I'm not going to be patient and pray, if you thought that was how I'd stop you."

She didn't look affected by that, but there was an unusual fluctuation in the dream layer.

"Did you not hear what I said? Our creator—"

"I'll keep my opinion on that till I have more information to go on. Right now, the only thing I know for certain is that you are my enemy."

He shot forward and grabbed one of Gaia's arms, closing his other hand around her throat. She just kept smiling him, spiting him.

"You can't kill me here, you can't change anything. I'm just humoring you."

So he smirked back at her.

"You're not very good at this, are you?" Michel said. "You're used to interacting only with creatures whom you can mold. Is that why you got rid of my kind, you could not control them?"

"No, they just bored me."

Michel fueled his rage, but outwardly stayed stoic. "Oh, that's all?"

There was just the slightest hint of anxiety around Gaia. Not on her face, but the tremor of the energy all around them. Then she dissolved and his hand was left grasping nothing. The lights around turned to sharp green flares, not unlike aurora. They were gathering together around the Rota Fortuna.

"Don't let her get it!" Michal called. The Ancients immediately formed a sphere around the wheel, spreading their wings wide to form a barrier. What little remained visible of the wheel had a dangerously decaying look to it, broken and losing color.

Gaia recoiled from the Ancients, and at the same time Michel felt a sting on his forehead. She was invoking her earthly heritage to affect him, but he warded her off. So instead, she snatched away the halo he carried on his belt. With that, he was left with no source of power.

"We play cat and mouse now," she told him musically.

If she thought he'd be as harmless as a mouse, she was wrong. He unwinded his flute into a whip with an impossible amount of strands and scattered the energy around him.

Almost at once it congregated, but the delay wasn't lost on him. He might just hold out until — something tore through his top two wings, and it felt like his bones broke. Turning rapidly, he saw five arms emerged from a marine green haze. Splashes of red stayed in their wake.

There wasn't supposed to be any bleeding in the dream layer, but then again, this one belonged to Gaia. Still, it was his body and he wouldn't let her have any of his blood. He transfigured it into feathers that shot back into his wing, restoring some of the damage she'd done.

Gaia's energy amassed into a bright star turned comet and fell right at him. He had no choice but to flee for now. Let her chase him, he'd strike again once he had her far enough from the Rota Fortuna.

He would lose in the end, but only if he remained the sole fighter against Gaia.

**· · · · · · ·**

Seira pushed through the thick threads and wished she could call for Lucia.

"Little girl, you shouldn't have come in here," a voice near her ear whispered. At the same time, a cold finger brushed over her back. "Should have stayed with the other unborn."

Seira been here for a while now. Gaia hadn't been interested in talking, so perhaps something wasn't going as planned. She ignored the chill that set on her and kept searching. Lucia had to be somewhere here.

"Maybe you should go help your celestial friend. He still thinks he is buying you time."

He _was_ buying her time. As long as Gaia didn't oppose with much more than these threads, she could still move forward. There was no light nor dark left, but she could sense a structure around her. Small sensations of the physical world and an intricate weaving in the spiritual realms. There was a certain field of gravity around the other god, the moon, who even in his sleep provided a solid radiance of magic and magnetism.

Gaia touched her again, this time it felt like the thin finger sunk through her skin. She felt fragile and thought parts of her fell away. First the tips of her tail, then her fingers and ears. She'd already lost her visible shape when she entered, now Gaia was taking the rest of her identity.

And then she reached the part that was a contradiction to fate. When Seira had made the bargain with the unborn, she hadn't really understood the details of the paradoxical existence she became, and she still didn't entirely. But it burned Gaia's essence like fire, as if she tried cutting through something that existed and yet didn't exist.

Inwardly Seira laughed. As Gaia recoiled, Seira's spirit shot away.

Now Gaia had backed off, she finally sensed Lucia's presence. Though her spiritual matter was taken apart and she was invisible, her essence was whole. Wasting no time, Seira tuned in on Lucia, forcing tendrils of Gaia's power away.

This effectively pushed her out of Gaia's artificial dream world, and what remained was only the sound of earth and Lucia's small presence. Seira forsook all simulated senses and concentrated on raw information.

Lucia's spirit seemed to have shrunken into itself. Speaking to someone she couldn't see or even touch wasn't easy, but she had little practice to go on when communicating with the the orange swarm.

"Lucia?" she managed to say. "What are you doing?"

She was flooded with a drowning sorrow. Lucia didn't immediately process Seira's presence, but then she slowly answered the question.

"I'm hiding, so she can't use me as a toy."

"But ..."

"Why did you bring me here, Seira? Why did you make me listen to her?" Along with those words came a sense that Lucia thought Seira hated her.

In this layer and without form to uphold, holding back knowledge was even more difficult than in the heavens. Seira inadvertently showed Lucia the future where they severed the wheel from Fuku's influence _without_ removing Lucia's presence in the world. After the initial shock of reality setting in, she would have just kept singing and bending the world to her will, eventually moving into even the ancient cities. The chaos would cease, but all those who beheld her would be entranced and she would not want to believe herself anything but good, keeping the wheel spinning on her own accord. Eventually, she would have erased the minds of everyone, until the world was populated only by empty shells with no thought beyond Lucia. There would be an afterlife and souls, but only within the planet. Beyond Lucia's range, they would be unable to exist. Within Gaia's domain, she essentially stood outside of fate.

There was something that might have been a scathing laugh.

"So it's true. I am a distortion. I'm the only mermaid princess with mismatched colors. The only to get to live without her pearl. The most noble ever born. The only to play that special harp. The only who gets to stay with her beloved. The only in ten thousands of years worth to become the new goddess of the seven seas. I'm not supposed to exist and what you showed me proves it. The Ancients who can't be controlled by fate should rule the world and make it paradise. I can't."

As Lucia spoke, Seira heard the echo of Gaia's words and visions she'd been given. "First I'd be the naive heroine whose love moved the world because I can sing prettiest when magic helps her. Then I'd be the bitter one, or maybe the tragic one. She wasn't sure, but whatever it was, I'd still be making the world revolve around me. And I wouldn't even notice cause I'm not so smart. Everything around me would be a lie. Even my love for Kaito. You said it yourself, right? About it not making sense to love Michel when you barely interacted with him a years ago ... it's the same for me and Kaito. For me and the world around me. I shape it just like the former Aqua Regina did and I hurt people in the process. Nothing's really real."

Seira pushed back a bitter thought. Compared to the distorted unborn, who looked at warped versions of themselves all the time, Lucia hadn't had it that bad. Then again, not everyone was strong equally. Lucia had told her this herself, once.

"Yes, perhaps there was a fate mechanism behind your love for him, but you know him now, don't you?And unlike Thalassa, you stood up for the innocent. That alone makes you different. Maybe Gaia didn't lie, but she left away truth. Her control over fate is not absolute, that is why she tries breaking you. At least now, you know what could be and you can change the map of your future." Also, they had to get rid of Gaia. If they could do both at once ...

"No, make someone else Aqua Regina. I'll only mess it up again! I can't trust my feelings like this."

"Then don't listen to what _feels_ right. Be logical."

"I'm not good at that."

"There's no shame in asking help from those who _are_ good at it."

"No, Seira. I'm not good at noticing what I do to them. I've always gotten everywhere thanks to my friends ... but here's the thing ... I wouldn't have had those friends if not for the fate wheel being spun as it was. People were made so that when they heard the song, they'd get all trusty and stupid. And it all comes down to me _because gods were bored_. I'm staying here, so others can be free."

Seira did know a little of that feeling. She had stood before the fear of having no certainty of who she really was, that she could have been like Sara, but she'd stepped back where Lucia had fallen into the abyss. There was a strange rhyme to Sara having conspired to destroy Thalassa while Seira herself was here to raise up Lucia. And to match Sara's serenity, Seira felt anger welling up.

Rationality and kind patience was not working here, Seira concluded.

"This isn't a situation you can solve by sacrificing yourself! For goodness sake, _yes_ , you're a weak link, but you're also a crucial link. You know this, yet so often you don't ask for help when you need to while being too emotionally dependent on others, and Gaia is about to tear Michel's soul apart while you're feeling sorry for yourself. Doesn't that seem familiar? Or ironic? Once, you were the one who went to battle while Kaito stayed behind and angsted. And not too long ago, you set the mermaid world right on how they ignored the Panthalassans! If you give up now and allow evil to happen all over again, you'll just be like Thalassa."

This was no fairy accusation and didn't match up with what she'd previously said. It absolutely wasn't kind. But it worked.

In the directionless nothing, an outline shimmered into view, finally giving the blinded Seira something to see.

"I'm still here to help you, Lucia," Seira said, gentler now. She herself regained a little form as she held out her hand. When Lucia reluctantly reached out with her free hand, solidity waved out from the sea staff, coloring them back into themselves.

"What must I do?" The doubt wasn't gone from Lucia's aura, but the emerging face held the resolve Seira knew was more true to Lucia than any uncertainty. The threads around them melted away and Seira grew back her entire form. Lucia took longer.


	38. Godspeed

"Become the goddess of a better ocean and protect your world."

As they regained their spiritual shape, still in the safe field of Seira's contradictionary existence, they heard the first signs of a battle. Gaia had refocused all her efforts on Michel and Seira turned to the battle, still invisible behind the thick shroud of threads. "Gaia has betrayed the Anima Mundi, all of us. You, me, Michel and the Ancients. You'll be a better goddess with her gone."

"Isn't she already a spirit?"

"Spirits can be destroyed, that was Thalassa's fate and—"

"That of the former emperor too, but Gaia was able to put together pieces of him. Maybe we can't destroy her in her entirety." As Lucia said this, Seira caught a memory of her, of the distorted spirit of the emperor in Gaia's claws.

"We could just go back the surface," Lucia muttered. "She won't destroy us, she just wants to be entertained."

"Except this time, Thalassa won't be there to make things easy for the mermaids and Gaia will have free reign over the seas too. She'll still be there to break you, and if she bores, it'll be the Ancients all over again."

"Must we really destroy her?"

"Let's get you back your Rota Fortuna first."

A few of the unborn mermaids had come in and led them the way. Lucia recoiled when she saw them, but when realizing they really weren't harmful, pity replaced disgust.

They brought Lucia to where the Ancients waited, still protecting Lucia's Rota Fortuna.

The mystical object had become smaller, but also more defined. It had a pearly white color and was engraved with images and Japanese, Lucia's preferred language. The Ancients didn't see either of them at first and didn't open the protective shield they had formed around it.

By now, the threads had thinned enough so that the battle was visible. At first glance it didn't look like a battle at all. Michel flew around in an erratic pattern just below the outline of Antarctica. His opponent manifested clawing arms and razor sharp beaks at random intervals. Sometimes he destroyed them, but there was an unacceptable streak of red in his wake that grew every time he was hit. Gaia had to be controlling the rules of this world to a sadistic extent.

At this sight, Lucia finally regained her full willpower to _do_ something. Almost instantly, the remaining threads of the Rota Fortuna shot at the insubstantial goddess and wrapped around her. Lucia let herself be taken into the midst of the wheel. The eight spikes melted away and she returned to a fully visible form, both hands on the sea staff and her white dress fanning out. The wheel started glowing and spun around her with increasing speed.

"Well, since I'm supposed to ask help ... I'll need more details," she said.

"Michel is out of his environment and Gaia has the upper hand here, but you can even out the playing field by strengthening his Panthalassan heritage, which is closer to earth's form than we Ancients are," one of the Ancients said. "Since she took Michel's halo, he needs a new source of energy very quickly."

"Understood," Lucia said. She took a deep, useless breath, and then she sang.

It was positively dreadful. The Ancients, having never heard what Lucia sang like without magical enhancement, cringed in shock. Some looked at Seira questioningly. She would have answered them that it was normal, but once more lacked a voice, so she just shrugged with an awkward smile.

The sea staff fortunately didn't care one bit for melodious disharmony. A sharp light started shining on Michel's forehead and magic came pouring in from the world above like rushing waters. It washing in not just the power of the ocean, but also all of the unborn mermaids. Within no time, darkness full of glowing pearls filled Gaia's bright white and green space, forcing her back into a smaller star.

At this, the group of Ancients left their position around Lucia and flocked to help Michel. Seira renewed her connection with the unborn swarm to see whether they could do anything. When she told them they were going to try and subdue Gaia, having learned just how cruel her game was, they weren't surprised in the slightest. They meant to cease existing, if it happened in a way that made the world cleaner, then that was just as well. For the first time, she noticed something else than misery from them. Albeit dim, they held some appreciation for the new world order now ... heh, which was about to be recycled. Seira wouldn't get to see it, and she wasn't sure it was going to be alright after this, but they could only go forward. It wouldn't be bad ending like this, when she could see the two people she cared for most rise to their rightful place in the world.

Now just to make that happen.

**· · · · · · ·**

Fighting an enemy he couldn't see and who had no form was a lost cause. Gaia tried tempting him into dissolving, tearing him apart as she went. Much of his wings had been reduced to a bloody mess, but when he felt the powers of the seas pour in through the Panthalassan mark, he regrew them at once. He looked over to the south and there was a bright, shining Lucia and a rising tone of her godawful singing voice. Coming from all around them was the mass of monstrous mermaids, and the Ancients rose to form a circle around him. He had the will to smirk.

Gaia remained unfazed, but for all he knew she'd just decided to not experience worry. Her remarks that betrayed him emotions were disposable for her. Just as well, it made her less of a person and easier to destroy. Now if only he could get her to contract her spiritual essence enough for him to repeat what he had seen the Panthalassans do to Thalassa ...

Gaia whispered her pointless insults and Michel ignored them as she manifested another arrow and shot down her next attack. Her words were abruptly cut off when the unborn swarm closed in a sphere around her, cutting off her tie to the rest of her energy.

A cutting silence followed, and then a deafening scream filled the entire dreamspace to a painful degree.

"Earth will cool down if you destroy me. You cannot kill all life, can you?" she hollered.

"You of all should know there are more ways than one to kill," Lucia whispered back, and though small, all could hear it over Gaia's voice.

Michel withdrew close to Lucia and said, "There will be only one Rota Fortuna of which the map is decided by others. We will claim hers.

Lucia nodded.

He again went ahead and spread all six wings wide, illuminating the constricting darkness. Recoiling at the unborn and their untouchable fate, carried on the magic of the seas now beyond her reach, she had no choice but to contract into her visible spirit form. She still didn't look afraid, still had that serene, warm smile despite the infernal sound she kept making.

"What now, little gods? You believe your small minds can control the greatest Rota Fortuna ... poor. Young. At least the Ancients were wise enough to know their limitations."

Michel cast a quick look at the enduring faces of the Ancients, all of whom looked whithered and old in this world.

"No, perhaps we were just too patient," one of them said.

"And the emperor Michel died a long time ago. I am the monster made from him," Michel said with a manic smirk. "And I will have none of the patience that my predecessor had!"

As he spoke, his wings dissolved to blend with the threads. Red like blood, his power flowed into the threads, warping them to merge with the womblike wall that the unborn were building around Gaia's dream world. Oh his own fabrication, he added in the shapes of chimeras at their fiercest. Eyeless jaws emerged snapping from the walls of flesh, a hundred claws tore into the astral dress and dissolved the gravity she tried creating.

Like she had made him suffer, he turned her rules for this world against her. She bled like a mortal, but had far more to lose as a spirit without anywhere to go. He had effectively turned her entire dream layer into a jaw and stomach.

Michel tore apart her entire being, the powers, the ages, the influence, then the memories and all those spare feelings she had kept in safe seclusion. Finally, he destroyed the personalities she had patched together in her unnatural way, and all of which had been carelessly strew in corners of her soul. They were all different, yet all adhered to the amoral design of her heart.

Gaia went out with no more than a pathetic sizzle. For all her power, she was as slow to change as the earth formed mountains. The essence of her soul was nothing but a small star in his hands, and he hesitated for moment. His instinct was to just eat her, but he had no idea what would happen after. However, he felt the threads of the planet trying to reform to her, and he didn't wait any longer. He swallowed the energy, which went straight to his wings and threatened to tear him apart.

Another surge of Panthalassan power joined him, but this wasn't the impersonal conduit from earlier. Michal made herself known very clearly, and demanded he send her the essence so it would be aware from earth's core. He thought her crazy until she pointed out Gaia was technically already in her soul just as well, just not at the same location, and there was one thing Michal could do that Michel couldn't. His construct looked nice and all, but it wasn't an actual womb.

"~ You're kidding. ~"

"~ Yes, that is the plan. I reckon a little kid will be easier to deal with than a primal soul desperate for freedom. Let it try life with only one personality. ~"

"Lucia, I'm about to send Gaia's soul to the surface and force it into rebirth. At that moment, the planet's Rota Fortuna will be loose. Like yours, it will keep spinning in the direction it already goes, but without supervision. We need to control it immediately!"

"I understand," she said. "But if you give me a moment, let me see whether I can find back the magic that smooths out my voice. I think if we do this, the entire world will hear. I'd rather not give anyone accidental earpain," she said brightly.

His insides were tearing, but he'd had worse. "Go ahead," he told Lucia.

It took her about two minutes, but then she sang again with a divine voice. It was a song of imaginary words, made up on the spot so no magic translation existed. The melody started out slow, then picked up a hopeful tune. As soon as Michel was certain she had a grip, he let go of Gaia's soul. The transfer just took a split second, during which the remnants of the seal light died away and left them in near perfect darkness. Even the light of the unborn disappeared.

Then Lucia's sea staff lit up in a soft, growing blue, green and the finally white.

Michal sent something back to Michel : the sky staff, which manifested before him. He took a hold of the item and found it a perfect channel for his power. He had thought he'd use the threads in this layer to control the Rota Fortuna of earth, but now he had a far better idea.

"I think we can merge our staffs with the Rota Fortuna ... both atmosphere and water are part of the planet, after all."

The Ancients gave an agreeing whisper, and Lucia almost stopped her song to ask something. Before she had the chance, Michel had grabbed the top of his staff and pulled off the winged particle. The staff crumpled apart, leaving behind the glowing core. He took out his flute and set it to his lips, following the same tune as Lucia's song. The Ancients spread out further, and joined in the song with a low chant.

Lucia's song left its sweet tone behind and turned mightier. The world around them turned brighter, and from the surface a massive white light illuminated. Gaia's soul, now harmless as new threads formed from it. Lucia and Michel guided the threads between earth and the Rota Fortuna, and the spirit realm and dream layer alike were illuminated. All the threads that had been in this space burned up and fell like meteorites to the surface.

Michel saw his own Rota Fortuna manifest and a second one presenting Michal, while around Lucia her ring gained an aura of wild water. At the same time her white dress tore apart, leaving behind three scaled white tails. Her unwound hair bound together again in wide braids over loose strands. Her fingers turned webbed and the silver grown turned into a diadem that spun around her head, through her hair and across her skin, bending along as she moved.

The fins of sea staff sharpened, then broke free of the staff. Lucia placed her hand below it as the top started evolving. Now in tandem with Michel's feathered core, the two channels of power unfolded more wings.

Far away, the songs of the other mermaid princesses joined in with the existing music.

Michel used the carrying power of his song to project his voice into Lucia's mind, and found she could now reply in return. This allowed them to hold a private conversation without anyone hearing.

"~ What kind of a world do we want to create, Aqua Regina? ~"

"~ That would be ... ehm, what do I call you?~"

"~ I suppose I would be Caelum Rex now. ~"

"~ I was thinking it would be nice if the dream layer was more accessible to people, and mermaids had more useful magic, and people wouldn't be forced to be politicians anymore when they'd bad for it. Let's not just reset the world and make people forget, that wouldn't be fair, especially since we can't bring back everyone. And I think there's lots of spirits around that would like to visit people. Do you see that barrier? ~"

He saw it. By now, the entire earth looked hollow and pure from this layer of existence and they could clearly see all the other wheels of fate. Not so far away, the god of the moon woke up, realized he was noticed, and proved to be a very shy fellow as he took off to the sky with a quick apology. Lucia told him that once he got there, he should break the barrier Gaia had created to keep spirits out, namely the Panthalassan spirits who weren't so callous as to endanger the world for vengeance. Gaia hadn't found them useful since they wouldn't get rid of Thalassa for her. Many had come to stop their kin, apparently, only to be held back.

Michel had more attention for what remained of the unborn mermaids. As of yet, their state remained unchanged. Seira was invisible and inaudible, but clear by his side nonetheless. He almost hoped she might just continue existing like this, but then it started. The two winged cores whirled away from them at a lightning speed and far above earth, they bore into the massive Rota Fortuna.

As this happened, an overpowering nigh-omniscience set onto them, but with that came the room the process all the information.

The two gods felt a resonance whenever the tone of their shared music echoed across an artificial construct of fate. While they did not retcon the past, they took things apart and set them back together in a way that made more sense. Mermaid castles turned rougher and more reminiscent of the sea than of classic architecture. Mermaids themselves lost some of their beauty, there was no more magic keeping their long hair smooth below the sea and their tails turned scaly. Over time, they would find a way to transform mermaids to be able to survive below sea without magic supporting their forms altogether, perhaps giving them better tails, stronger skin and sonar, maybe even gills. The collective mind numbing effect of mermaid music was reduced to a simpler soothing effect, and in its stead song allowed mermaids to more freely control their native element. This was the start to undoing Thalassa's influence.

Gaia's effects were far more subtle, and far more numerous. They ranged from small changes of mind of every variety — aggression here, complacency there, benevolence on yet another place — to great changes to geography, atmosphere, plantlife and food sources. They sought out deserts first and subtly influenced life, but neither had enough skill with earth magic to make a great change. They found threatened species again, and threatened plants, and Michel noticed a sense of sorrow seeping into Lucia's chosen melody. He himself was so familiar with that feeling at the sight of what humans did to their world, and now even more he thought of them as Gaia's joke. He and Lucia might just have differences in how to deal with them, but for now they worked in perfect harmony. They had come to the chaos that Fuku's work had done.

His changes were halted already, but the over effects were the most drastic. Entire parts of land had been erased from existence during the reality warping. All the lost matter had now returned where it had been, mostly at the same place, but with no signs of life. A great deal of confused spirits wandered around here, some missing memories or lacking the ability to experience certain emotions. For this, they had no innate skills at all, but there were those who did, as the Ancients still present with them let them know.

This brought about the first true alteration they made to the world : the dream layer was made visible to the regular world. Not entirely, but accessible enough for the Ancients to come down to the surface freely, no longer having to pass by layers of existence to manifest. They would be able to interact with folk of all sorts again and share their knowledge, hopefully for the better. In time and with the right material, Michel believed he could grow them new bodies.

With the Ancients came down the sky cities, seamlessly falling into the raised ruins. Michel and Lucia decided to keep these drifting in the skies as a separate domain for the sky folk, like Lucia and her mermaids would have their underwater cities. It was the refounding of a third atmosphere in addition to land and sea, and with that fell away contrivances that Gaia had created to keep them away.

The Rota Fortuna of planet earth came to peace.

In the midst of all their grandiose plans, the presence of Seira faded. She was the last of the unborn to remain, and only because she possessed a remnant of spiritual energy from this timeline to sustain herself with. As this energy wouldn't even be here in a normal time flow, she'd soon have nothing. Michel couldn't help but think of ways to cheat out, somehow bend the spiritual laws to keep her her. Lucia wasn't disinclined, but from her experience with misusing her powers by accident, she was more hesitant to indulge.

"~ It's alright, Michel, Lucia. Existing in this half world is not very pleasant for me, and even less so for the others. ~"

Michel kept focus on his flute and closed his eyes, he couldn't say anything at all. Lucia managed to create telepathic sobs, and for a moment Seira's presence left him. He didn't listen to what they told each other under the sound of Lucia's son. It took two motifs before he felt her near him again.

"~ Now, I'd like to show you something. ~"

What she gave him was one particular future they might have had. It was a world where Thalassa had dominance over Gaia's game, but Lucia had come close to unraveling many of the constructions. It was an imperfect world, but it had lacked the complacency field and at least for mermaids, there was more honesty. She and Michel had a very awkward relationship, first just friends for the longest time, then reluctant lovers, sometimes trying too hard, then falling apart as a result of a disagreement or a stubborn refusal to back down. They'd always returned to each other, but it took them half Seira's lifetime to make it work. In the end, they'd found happiness at least between themselves, and after she passed on Michel braved immortality alone, not unhappy.

She meant to show this as a consolation for him, but Michel found it neither more painful or more soothing to know. Even if Seira's life would have ended and he would have accepted that, that was not the same as ending altogether. Nor was that future one of the people they were now.

"~ Once I'm gone, will you teach my songs to my successor? ~"

That at least he could answer easily, off course he would. There was a weak smile in both of them, and then he said, "God be with you, Seira,"

"Oh Michel, I won't be at all. Please don't hope in vain."

"If the God I want to believe in exists, you will be somewhere."

But she could not hear him anymore.


	39. Modulation

Michal woke somewhere that was both warm and cold at the same time. Cold was in the air and the stone floor below her, warmth in the energy on another level of existence. She felt both physical world and dream layer at once. As she opened her eyes, she saw both the dark ceiling and a soft teal light coming from within herself. There was a third layer to her senses, which she couldn't place anymore though she was pretty sure she'd _been_ there. Before she could focus on that, a worried face with long cedar hair appeared over her. She didn't immediately recall the woman's name, but she was definitely familiar.

"Michal, are you alright?" The voice cut through a suffocating silence. The world around and outside was without even the whisper of wind.

"I'm ... whole. And a little more," Michal whispered, furrowing her brow. The lifeforce in her womb stirred a little as she placed her hand across her stomach.

"You were out for a few hours, what happened? Can you stand?"

It didn't feel like she'd been 'out'. Quite the opposite, to be honest. Compared to before, this simple existence was small and without intense awareness that felt like the only time she'd really _existed_. Perhaps she'd been aware the entire time and had something failed to pay attention because whatever this body perceived was negligible compared to Michel reaching into the power that held the world was together. Or to put it less eloquently, when he ate the goddess of the earth.

Individuality was so tiny and incomplete. Her mind struggled to find back its mortal foundation, stripping away the sensation of the spinning planet, the forces that moves the air and earth, the flow of all life ... Michel was taking it away from her consciousness. She understood why, she couldn't possibly function when so overwhelmed, but she didn't like it. Without the neutral sensations she was left with their small but nevertheless potent emotions, which no longer paled in comparison to the world.

Michal broke into tears. It was like she lost her brother all over and though Michel right now kept the accompanying thoughts to himself, she could guess what they were. But he was right. She had to focus on the world now, be it on a smaller, more immediate scale.

She lay in a room in one of the sky cities, atop a cloak that did little to cancel out the hard floor. A section of the wall and floor was missing, at least physically. The ghost of the celestial cities fit over it perfectly. There was no ghost to fill the absurdly large void that Seira's erasure had left in the other half of her soul.

Almost irritated, she noted she was assigning melodramatic descriptions when there was work to do. Time to stop staring at the ceiling.

She wiped her eyes unsuccessfully and looked at the woman that knelt at her side. With only a little delay now, her name came to mind.

"Radu ... I ... I'll be able to stand in a little while. How did I get here?"

"We were in the middle of an evacuation when you just fell from the sky. I brought you to the nearest sky city. Around the same time, your astral self got this green glow," Radu said, waving her hand around a bit. Like mist, the green light shifted, moving at the touch of a pseudo-Ancient. It was a casual gesture, but Michal guessed Radu wasn't at ease at all.

"I'll be doing more virgin birth. This time I volunteered," she said with a considerable effort not to choke up entirely. Part of her wanted to hate the thing in her womb even if her rational mind knew it no longer was the entity that caused so much pain. Gaia was gone, so was the Aqua Regina. "I need to do something now. Just ... keep my thoughts in the here and now."

"I'll try to help," Radu said as she held out her hand.

"I just need to stay busy." Michal took her hand and came to her feet.

"No, Michal. What can I help _you_ with? You didn't just break down for no reason."

How did one give a cue that a subject had to be dropped. She didn't want to think about this when the feeling was already inescapable. Diversions worked, she had to get different feelings. Right now, hate offered itself up. "Tell you later, gotta do something first."

She took an uneasy step and almost toppled over when her brain didn't immediately give her legs the proper order on how to walk. Radu caught her by a shoulder.

"Do you need extra neurological space again?"

Michal shook her head. "It'll clear out. Just after effects."

She tried moved away, but Radu didn't let go. She was surprisingly strong for her build, or maybe Michal was currently weaker than she thought.

"Michal, you cannot go order around garudas and monsters when you're sniffling and have red eyes," Radu said in a tone that let no room for debate. "Nor can you expect us to serve right if we don't know what is going on. What if you collapse again?"

Radu had a point. She should explain about Gaia, about the new directions that Michel was channeling her, and ...

She should be saying a lot, but the only thing that came out was a blank, "Seira is gone."

Radu frowned. "Her pearl should still be at that beach, and —"

"No. Gone, like in there is no more spirit."

"No more spirit, or no more soul?"

" _All_ of Seira is _gone_. She took on the form of a distortion of fate so she could help out better. When fate was cured, she ceased existing."

"But how—"

"Just stop asking! She's gone!"

Radu let Michal go, holding up her hands apologetically.

"I'm sorry," Michal whispered. "I'm sorry, it's just ... at least one day, I might see my brother again. This is different." She held out her hand for Radu to take. With a soft humming, Radu had taken her knowledge.

"Oh no ..." Michal wasn't an expert at face reading, but Radu's expression was clear enough. Sympathy, what a strange little thing to make one feel better. You couldn't touch it, take it, make it, it had no form or sound save what a given species was hardwired to give it form with. But it often worked.

 _No ceiling staring_ , she thought to herself. Her emotions didn't care to follow that advice, but her mind obliged.

"Radu, please try not to talk about it or say anything else. We smile when we need to, we command when it's required. There's no room for weakness when we have a world to fix, so let's do this right. How much people do we have?"

Radu forced an imperfect smile on her face and nodded. "All those spare monsters that appeared when Lucia expected an army of darkness are still there and ready to obey—"

"Good."

"... but they're acting like incompetent mooks. They don't have half the wit of the original monsters from the island, so we can't trust them to deal with the civilians properly. Picking up people and carrying them in, that they can manage. It would be better if the world was reset, like before. Why isn't that happening?"

"Gaia used to be in charge of resetting the world and she had her lifetime worth of experience. Michel and Lucia don't. They could screw up so much with a single miscalculation."

"How so?"

Michal flexed her wings and found her response time improving. She wiped her eyes again and said, "I'll explain you once we're outside. Let's fly. I still need something to keep my mind busy, lest I get caught up in thinking what could have been done differently."

They left the room straight through the open wall and flew across the world.

Michal wondered what would happen when it became apparent to the other creatures that the dream world had been merged with the regular world. For now, the only unusual sign of this was the multi colored sky. There was in general a more dreamlike atmosphere all around, a strange way of the light to reflect and a haze over waters and mists in the halls. They still thought it was regular magic.

Here and there, Michel's telltale DNA pillars rose from from the sky. To Michal, she could see their origin in the massive Rota Fortuna that crossed the sky. To her it was visible through her bond with Michel, who in turn now had a bond with the wheel. It had morphed away from the strange solid matter to be full of plantlife, wings, dragonfly wings, snailshells, beaks and other mathematical perfections of nature. Where Lucia governed the wheel, the same occurred but with coral, seashells, fins and scales instead.

She pointed this out to Radu. "Can you see the Rota Fortuna?"

"If I really focus. It exists in the third layer of reality, it's not easy to access, but I see it's changing. You can tell me why?"

"Yes."

Michel and Lucia had decided to not affect fate directly at all. Instead, they were using the Rota Fortuna of the planet as a conduct for their powers, having merged the sea and sky staffs with it. The world would take longer to fix like this, but in the end the Rota Fortuna would be spun by the natural order again without inflicting a miserable half existence on whatever was unmade. Fate should not be up at the whims of a small number of flawed individuals.

The world wouldn't look kindly on this. Humans and fayfolk alike would want a quick restoration to ease their personal discomfort.

As violating as the Aqua Regina's complacency field was, right now they couldn't afford people to turn selfish. Plundering already was happened in the areas that were relatively unaffected, it didn't need to become violent. The problems currently most relevant in the world weren't of the complicated form where increased, irrational trust would be a problem. This was why a diminished variant the complacency field was upheld. It would gradually decrease over the years until it was nothing but a simple anti-depression field.

"Now I have questions. Atmosphere all across the world?" Michal asked.

Radu took out a cellphone and connected to what Michal presumed was the vast database of the organization.

"Stabilized. Present day life should be able to handle it."

"Chaos zone?"

"Covered most of the planet and wrecked cities and infrastructure, but the chaos itself is gone. The worst casualty is the overhaul of Switzerland. It's part ruined, part full of animated cuckoo clocks and other stereotypes taking a life of their own. Nothing we can't handle."

"Alright," Michal said as evenly as she could. She'd miss the house that she and Licht had once had there, but that was not an acceptable thought right now. "On to other things. Sara and Gackto are dead and moved on to the afterlife. _Supposedly_. Any sight of the Dark Lovers?"

"They're still around and don't know what you just told me. They're working with the Panthalassans, except for Yuri who went with Hippo to the Pacific Ocean."

"Alright, let's keep them in the dark till we have more order. We don't want them kicking a tantrum now with all these civilians at stake. Speaking of them, how are they?" She caught up to some lost memories, in the moment Lucia stopped having fate back up, her powers had gone awry. Absurd storms had caused EMP waves and water all over the globe had gone erratic, causing floods or suffocating droughts as water drained from the air. Evacuations had not ceased at all.

"I called in some friends to reconstruct space in the ruins so we have plenty of subdimensional room. They've done it before and it works well, though there have been complaints about the excess of glitter."

"Glitter's not relevant. By the way, did anyone tell Alala that? I presume they haven't sat still in the last few hours." Michal had expected them to be with Radu, but there was no sign of them. Below she could see squadrons of monsters and garudas, all highly organized and devoid of the flare of the two fairies.

"Lanhua went to China, Alala to America. They're going where they have most understanding of the native culture to deal with the humans and took along fitting parts of the monster armies. I've stayed away from public relations because most of my familiarity is with the organization. Anything you and Michel want me to do with that?"

"Huh, so there have been no attempted coups yet? I would have expected the random promotion of scientist to leaders to not be met with such acceptance."

"Oh, there's disagreement about it. That's why you're not seeing an awful lot of the organization helping out below, Merron and Richard can't quite get along with the military branch. You know, given that Michel and Lucia still have the complacency field active, maybe it would help if a mermaid princess dropped by to sing to them. It's not ethical, but it is necessary."

"We're going for necessary today, we'll polish our ethics later. People are dying. For now ..." She thought a little what would be best. At this moment, Michal was the only connection between this world and the two newly ascended gods. That could be impractical. If the organization already had trouble with their new leaders, then the inevitable communication with governments would be even worse. Michal was no public speaker and besides, she'd be too busy with organization and her oncoming child to play prophet.

"For now, I'd like you to go to find the Ancient city that is filled with bird statues. It's the only one that remained active after the demise of the Ancients since it was populated by their descendants. It is most integrated with the new atmosphere and its spiritual essence never left earth. That is why the organization used it as their headquarters. Within the assembly hall is a an energy vessel of Gaia in the form of a tower, there will be a mirror that allows one to see into the astral planes. I think you have the necessary skills to turned the place into our shiny new Internet. We should have a way to communicate with Lucia and Michel that isn't me."

"Understood. If you don't mind, I'm also going to try adapting it for clear communication with all the scattered spirits. I think I'm not the only one who is terribly curious who let all those Panthalassans out of the afterlife. Speaking of spirits, there are an awful lot of dead people who lack the necessary energy to get on their way. Anything you can do about that with Gaia's remnants?"

"Not that I know of, but I plan to find out once I go up. According to Michel, Lucia is on this already."

"Up?"

"Lucia and Michel are in the heavens now, controlling the Rota Fortuna from there."

"Why not go now?"

"First, I have to clean up. Where did you put Fuku's spirit?"

"I'll show you."

Radu led her to a nearby portal, and from there they landed in another ancient city. They arrived in a small room especially for those associated with what had been dubbed Michel's Army; the mermaids had apparently formed Lucia's Choir and the Panthalassans had formed a group named the Panthalassan Cross. One of Michel's monsters was in this room, welcoming new arrivals and handing out arm bands with a mark of which group one belonged to so they were easily recognizable amongst the diverse refugees. Who ever had this idea in their absence had apparently decided Michal and Radu officially were generals of Michel's Army, and they were given a band with golden edge and title.

Michal didn't find a particularly great idea. She may be primarily connected to the legacy of the Ancients, but she had Panthalassan heritage too, which made up a great deal of her powers. She wasn't about to debate this now, but she did decide to manifest a circlet of gold that seemed to emerge from the cross on her forehead. That did the trick of marking her of both worlds. She gave a circlet to Radu too and humored the specific details she asked for.

As they left the room, Michal found this city was far more crowded and indeed very glittery, unlike the still desolate one they'd been in the process of filling when Michal had collapsed. Michal recognized the handiwork of the pseudo-vampires from Romania, who blended in and out of the walls in a cheerful dance. They were small as children still, but finding a purpose had made them so much more lively.

Other magical creatures were also around, staff distinguished by the arm bands. Numbers wouldn't be a problem in the new world order, apparently. Many creatures, magical and non magical alike, her joined up to fill the necessary roles. She and Radu were approached almost at once by staff that needed help for arranging medicine, food, staff roles and other things they weren't happy about. To Michal, this wasn't unfamiliar. She'd done her share of aid work, back in the days she still was just the little sister of an obscenely rich conductor. Seeing Radu was quite lost with this business, Michal took the reigns here and spent a hyper focused half hour detailing out a new work protocol for maximum efficiency.

Choosing who would be in charge of what wasn't easy since she knew practically no one, so she resorted to a little bit of cheating by asking Michel for possible outcomes he could see in the fate wheel. The favored security headmaster of this city, for example, had been chosen because he made a good impression and not because he was competent, he'd screw up in a few hours. When she demoted him and instead chose a demure dwarf and gave him a powerful chimera to back up his orders, this raised protest, but she didn't indulge. By the end of the day, everyone would understand he was the best choice.

No longer having to rely on vague fortune telling old ladies to predict the future sure was handy, but whether it would work in the future when the wheel was less controlling and more responsive was the question. For now though, it was a perversion of reality that worked in their favor, like the complacency field.

She was told Radu had disappeared to one of the other private arrival halls, so Michal went there. She still had to learn the exact location of Fuku, and none of the local staff seemed to know. No wonder, there probably were plans of vengeance since his involvement had become common knowledge. Not that she could blame anyone, but they might just accidentally set him free.

The hall Radu was in proved to be crowded without Michal even having to enter. Kaita was shouting, and Radu was shouting back only a little less severely. Michal waited till the voices subsided. Apparently, Kaito didn't understand why Lucia wasn't back and Radu had not given a satisfactory answer.

When Kaito finally regained his composure, Michal stepped in and droned him an explanation about how hyper aware senses didn't mean the ability to actually handle all that information, nor did it give the skills needed to use the information, nor did it make them understand everything they perceived. Lucia didn't have time to come down and have a smiley reunion lest she wanted to accidentally kill some people with her extended body, namely the seven seas. He looked like she dropped a freezing bucket of water on him when he'd just stepped out of a warm house. Then she left as quickly as possible, and was quite aware she came across as crude and insensitive. He'd miss Lucia, but at the time she couldn't afford to think about _missing_ people.

She heard Radu tell Kaito that soon there would be a way to at least communicate with Lucia, and it would be great if he could tell her then he'd successfully united the Panthalassans under his reign. Michal didn't hear his answer.

She waited outside. When Radu appeared, she said, "That wasn't very tactful."

"I assure you, I've been far _less_ tactful in many ways with Kaito. He's figured me out by now, both the old and the new me. Now, if you'd please direct me to Fuku ..."

"What do you plan to do with him?"

"Take a wild guess how Michel feels right now, and how likely it is for me to share his opinion."

Radu sighed. "I know this isn't a good time, but this is about vengeance, isn't it? Should that really fuel what you're about to do?"

"Fuku squandered two chances. You can call it justice or vengeance, it remains that he's highly dangerous. Even Gaia could not control him, and one way or another he got out of that seal after the meteorite attack. Consider it an official sentence that we deem him unfit for society in whatever layer of existence."

"Then so be it. I'll show you there."


	40. Finality

The city of the Ancients were not in possession of actual prisons, but there were rooms where permanent seals could be formed. The translucent forms of five Ancients stood guard in this room. They bowed to Michal when she entered, which she found as ridiculous as Michel did. She asked them to leave, which they interpreted as an order to be obeyed. Radu went with them, she'd explain what was decided.

Maybe she should get used to this. Decisions were judgments, questions were orders. Want and law were blurring.

The was a dangerous power to have, as the thing before her had to thoroughly proved again and again.

Fuku's spirit was still in the star net, now firmly held in place by a few additional barriers. He looked smugly pleased with himself, black eyes staring right at her. There was a devious little grin below them.

She hunched down on the floor, flaring her wings a little. Now she stood before him, she was glad how sometimes her body wasn't as responsive to her emotions as it was on others. Inwardly she felt a lot of foul things, but outwardly she had an easier time remaining stoic. At least, when cold hatred was her predominant emotions. Besides, she wasn't going to give him the sick satisfaction of seeing her weak.

"I see you've been crying. Tell me, what went wrong? Or did you just get stressed? You always cried much easier than Michel did, maybe you're just too weak," Fuku said happily.

"We have a reason to cry that we share. Not that you need to know."

"Indeed, I already know everything that is relevant and —"

"Whatever. Can you see the light coming from me? That's what's left of Gaia. Did you know that when souls are destroyed, bits remain behind? Lucia saw the bits of soul from the former emperor. Now we're very curious just how exactly destroyed souls fall apart. It's relevant, you see, because we lost Seira. We already experimented with taking Gaia apart, but we don't know everything yet. No if I'm correct, you're technically not an Ancient and have a little of earth origin in you. You should teach us something about souls and this planet."

She reached forward and flicked away the small halo over Fuku's head, then curled her fingers over his skull. He was so _small._ Gaia and Thalassa had the form of imposing women with might auras, and here was this little thing that defied both of their wills simply with his ability to use others.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked, still grinning.

"Would you like to beg? I think both me and Michel are rotten enough to enjoy that," Michal asked.

Fuku shivered slightly and Michal got squicky memories of just how Fuku reacted to seeing his "progeny" act as cruel as he did. She really would like to think up a way to hurt him, but nothing came to mind.

"No, not interested. I did what was needed for Michel to take his rightful place. Isn't he doing it now, helping the world? All is well." Off course he wouldn't beg. He knew exactly that every happy word he spoke with a twist of the dagger and he liked it that way.

"If you had done all for the best, you would have told us about what the other gods were doing with the Rota Fortuna." She closed her fingers around his head.

"Oh, but that would—"

They took his voice first. All his memories were left where they were and his emotions untouched. Everything was torn apart.

Michal watched what happened to the remains of the spirit and noted the scientific details. Like wisps the remnants carried apart, till they were no different than the spiritual outline of the ruins.

It was unsatisfactory and anti-climatic, but most of all, utterly _absurd_. He was gone so simply. If they had done this earlier, so much misery could have been averted.

And then there was that horrible little thought that went, _and then you'd have never been free enough to realize you had to deal with Gaia or what the way to destroy souls was_.

Angrily she picked up the star net, left the room and told the Ancient spirits that there was no more need to guard anything. Though they were spirits, they could manipulate items of their making, such as the nets. If they were here, and eager to serve, then let them be useful. There would be a lot of people, no doubt, who would need a prison soon. As for judging those prisoners, that would be tricky. In a world where mind reading is possible, do you judge by motivations or by danger? Not all would be as easy to give a sentence as Fuku and there would always be the sneaky knowledge that they could bend minds if they wanted to.

After that, Michal was out of immediate things to do here, so she decided to attend to mermaid princesses next. She asked Radu for a gateway to the shore they'd been at before. Radu led her to one of the larger gateway spots, taking a tour around the crowded refugee halls. Once they passed by a room and were spotted by one of the servants anyway, who readily identified them. Responses of the refugees were mixed, but the predominant one was fear.

Many were here because they had no other choice. It really had to look like the forces of evil were flooding over there world to them, despite the best efforts of those in the know to explain. Radu with her batwings and Michal with her malformed red wings hardly looked holy. She felt pity for them, but also an aversion. Fearful people were likely to do rash, dangerous things.

"We should have more guards here," she simply said. "Find more of those star nets, if you can."

"That's not going to put them at ease, you know," Radu said.

"No, but it'll be safer in case anyone freaks out."

Michal decided she didn't care for public opinions. Mermaids could handle that far better, she and her people would be the unseen shadow and she was quickly becoming good at putting aside the troublesome feelings. It was something she perhaps learned from Gaia's remnant, the ability to segregate emotions. It wasn't a bad skill to have right now.

Just before the entered, in a quiet little adjacent room, Radu stopped her.

"Michal ... I can't express how tiny this makes me feel. Fuku, the former Aqua Regina, Gaia, the wheel of fate, the Anima Mundi, even the organization ... all those are things beyond us that have been pushing us around. And now I can't look at the sky without seeing a tool that could potentially erase my entire existence. Be honest. How big do you think the chance is that Michel and Lucia will end up like Gaia, losing their sympathy for small people?"

"They've been small and humble like all of us. They can't forget what it's like to be a person, and Gaia could not remember what she never had. It's why they're so careful right now, they try to do what's best for _everyone_."

"I hope that that still means something about a thousand years."

"That's very little time, you know. We have to worry about much more time. But at least we are immortal and can keep Michel grounded."

That was supposed to sound optimistic. It wasn't, she realized only after. Especially since Lucia didn't have any immortal beloved.

Michal didn't have to think long though. Mermaid kingdoms could reject their energy hearts anymore and those energy hearts could not reject their kingdoms, so no more turning black. In other words, the political strain on the princesses would be relieved. They could afford to become a little more sueprnatural.

"Alright. We should make a start in turning Lucia's friends immortal. By the time I get back from fetching the orange pearl, I'd like it if you had a DNA sample from all of them available. You don't have to call them all in right now, just teleport by if possible and ask them for a hair."

Radu showed a tired smile. "We're not done upsetting the old order yet, are we?"

"Absolutely not. There's no reason to let good people die when we could get more Saras in their stead."

"What if everyone who is immortal starts considering mortal life insignificant? I can imagine that happening as life flashed by."

"How we perceive time is neurologically hardwired. I'm sure we can do interesting things to it later. For now, one step at a time. Gateway to Indian shore, please?"

The entered the hall and Radu approached the gatemaster and the makeshift installation he controlled.

"A portal to a particular shore in India, please," Radu said, holding out a hand to both the man and Michal. The latter passed on the memory of the shore's location, and Radu planted it in the man's head. He sighed.

"That's as precise as you can get, miss?"

"Yes. It doesn't matter if it takes a while."

So they waited. Kaito joined them after some time, apparently expecting a delegation of Panthalassans, which did not take long to arrive.

Those who passed through the portal were both alive and dead, and so Radu couldn't help but ask Kaito, "Should you be listening to them?" She gave a nod at the translucent spirits.

"Do not worry, we are of those who did not agree with the plot of our kin. Gaia kept us from passing beyond the thermosphere," one of the spirits told Radu.

Ah, right. Michel threw Michal some information regarding that, and along came a sharp cut of regret over the thought of what could have happened if they'd known of all the plot before. A random trip up to the edge of earth's control could have averted it all.

Dear God, they had to stop dwelling on all the _what ifs_.

A good distraction came in the form of portal opening in a particularly profound shade of pink. Anayis burst out, followed closely by her worried caretakers. Her hair was a total mess, much like what would happen if a human went into the water, and she was breathing heavily and coughing up water.

Ah, right, water is air magic wasn't as easy anymore and mermaids now had gills. She worried the girl was about to hyperventilate, but then Anayis' face split into a wide grin.

"Anyi, why are you so happy?" a baffled Kaito asked.

"I'm happy because Lucia decided not to be a Mary Sue anymore!"

"Does anyone know what she's talking about?" Radu asked.

Michal did. "Real people can't be Mary Sues."

"Yeah, but the world wasn't really real, right?"

"That's true," Michal said.

"Where is she?" Anayis eagerly asked. "I wanna see her how she really is!"

"She in the heavens. Lucia can't live here anymore. That she is a real goddess now means she had to attend to her duties at all times."

Anayis's face dropped. "But, she is coming to visit, right?"

"Not anytime soon. Every moment she leaves the Rota Fortuna unattended, a catastrophe might occur. Right now, I believe they're dealing with affected nuclear power plants and ..." Radu gave Michal a sharp look and she realized she was about to rant again. "But you can see Lucia and perhaps even talk to her once Radu fixes an Internet in one of the other cities. Why don't you go with her? You're good with information stuff too, right?"

Anayis eagerly nodded and on cue Radu knelt down to ask, "Do I have permission from her highness to carry her off into the night?"

"Sure! But you've gotta drop the sappy talk!"

"With all due respect, nope," Radu said, laughing as she swung her up. Radu gave a nod to Michal, probably indicating she'd get things in order for her return.

Kaito and his group of Panthalassans were about to depart too, making room for new arrivals. They were almost out of the door when Michal decided she had to say something after all. After all, if they didn't manage to make him and the others immortal, then Kaito would be separated from Lucia once he died and she had to stay here as goddess.

"Hey, Kaito. Sorry for earlier. We know what it feels like to be separated from someone you love."

"It's okay, Michal, we're all stressed. Heck, I haven't even started talking to these people and I'm already stressed," he said, gesturing around him. The Panthalassans either sighed wearily or grinned.

"We'll help you on the way, my king," one of them said with a cheekiness that they'd doubtlessly taken from Gackto. In fact, Michal had a hunch Gackto had left these people in place exactly for Kaito's sake.

They left before Kaito realized what the _we_ in her last sentence meant. Michel might miss her most, but that didn't mean others would be easier, especially not the kingdom she was about to enter.

When the portal finally opened, Michal quickly slipped through.

It was a dull, drizzling morning at the shore, though the clouds were a strong lavender tone. Michal searched the rocks till she found the place where they had departed to the skies.

The illusion was still in place, but easily dispelled for her. Gingerly, she lifted the orange pearl that still lay below.

She meant to call in a portal to the orange Fountain of Vows immediately, but was stopped by the first clear sentence she got from Michel since she'd taken in Gaia's remnant.

"~ Don't go yet. It's not complete. Seira took a spirit print up her pearl up to the skies, it's what she traded with the unborn for their cooperation. Without that part, it's not complete. ~"

So she had to come retrieve it. No problem. Michal spread her wings and rose to the heavens.

On the way, she passed Ancients who helped spirits on their way by giving them the necessary energy. It was busy, off course, and a grim affair. So many asked what awaited them and there wasn't a certain answer. The Ancients had to have doubts of their own, not just by what Gaia did, but for far more reasons. The en masse return of the Panthalassans was difficult to explain in a world where spirits normally were limited and powerless.

The higher she rose, and the further she passed into the layer where the cities had once been, the more desolate it became. By the time she reached the layer of the fate wheel, it was no sign of life save a distant song of only flute and voice.

Following where she sensed Michel was, she found them a few thousand miles west of where she had ascended.

Lucia and Michel didn't appear as mighty gods, but as tiny figures on the wheel. With soft tone, they directed around the strange new growths on the Rota Fortuna. They knew what it meant, and through Michel Michal could understand too, but with her own eyes there was rhyme nor reason in the wings and fins.

Lucia noticed her first and waved at her with a sad smile. The white goddess did her best to appear cheerful, but it looked like there was something irreparably broken. Maybe it just was small details, like how that strange opalescent reflection was missing from her eyes. Maybe it was that she no longer had an aura that compelled others to find her the most beautiful ever. She was just a young woman who happened to have three tails and glowed.

"Michal, how are things below? I can't see so well in the sky castles, but last time I saw Kaito he was pretty upset. Did something happen?"

"No, he's just worried about you. But we explained things to him, and now he's working with the Panthalassans to bring order. You should see him and his people on the shores soon."

"Michel says you have no problem with Gaia's remnants, but I just wanted to say if I can help with anything, I'm here. I do know a little about raising children. I hope she'll be as easy as Anayis. By the way, how is she doing? I advised her through Taki to go to the cities because things didn't work out in the pink kingdom."

"She was really happy that you decided to take the difficult but better road."

Ah, there was the hopeful Lucia after all. "And how are the others holding up?"

Michal explained in detail what the rest would be doing, and patiently answered all of Lucia's questions. She asked a lot more than she had ever done before. According to Michel, she had come to dread what would happen if she did not know enough, so Michal told her even the smallest details. Michal repeatedly promised her there would be a way to talk to the people below through more direct ways than prophets, but it didn't seem to make her less worried. Only when the orange kingdom was brought up did Lucia piece together why Michal had come.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Seira wouldn't have wanted her descendant to be left waiting." Lucia was tearing up a little, which looked strange since her eyes didn't go red and the tears dissolved into energy, here on this level of existence. Perhaps she was crying a lot more than it appeared, but she had no physical body to go out of control.

Michal raised a hand, thinking to at least try to be comforting, but Lucia said, "It's okay. I've got work to do, and Michel will help once he gave you the piece of Seira's pearl... it's a strange thing, right? Compared to how it used to be?"

Lucia wasn't unlike Kaito in some ways.

"Yes, but it's not new." She passed by Lucia and looked over her shoulder. Lucia had wiped away her tears and continued working on what might just be creating a new river to bring life to a desert.

Michel wasn't far away. He rapidly flew from one spiked wing to another, the area around him constantly morphing shape and a plethora of bright colors that so mismatched what he felt. When Michal joined him, he didn't need to look up or greet her. It wasn't like they'd been without each others company.

He would hand her the reflection of the pearl as soon as she was done.

Michal noticed quickly that soon would only happen after a lot of postponing. He tried hiding it, but he had a stubborn hope for a miracle. Maybe, jsut maybe Seira's spirit would somehow manifest itself anyway, and then all would be well.

"You've _got_ to let go," Michal said harshly.

He stopped working, eyes wide and frantic.

"I can't ..."

Could not give up, could not think about it, could not realize he had failed her.

Could not admit out loud that he wouldn't be able to sacrifice her a second time, should the world ever demand it.

In her worry for him, Seira had shown him a life they could have had, and now he wanted it with all its imperfect happiness. The last glimmer of hope to have it was there in the form of that small orange pearl that hovered around his wings.

Not all hope was rewarded.

"Michel, don't you think it's a little bizarre that you're yet again preventing an orange princess from being born?"

"Yes, I can't seem to help it," he said with a sardonic laugh. His hand closed around the little orange glow, but the light still shone undisturbed. Suddenly the area around him seemed very dark. He looked long at the little piece of life in his hand and finally closed his eyes, and both his hands over the pearl. It was like a prayer without words, and one he gave up quicker than Michal initially thought.

Defeated, he sat down on the wheel, resting his hands on his knees and wings closed in half a circle. Michal descended aside of him and laid an arm across his shoulder.

"Once you told me you would carry both my pain and yours. Now let me help you," Michal softly said. She released the lock she had on her emotions and felt it all. Here it was safe to mourn. She laid her other hand on his clutching hands and found them relaxing after a last stubborn second.

His hands finally opened, and Michal lifted out the orange pearl.

"Can you hear it, Michal? The voice of the world?" Michel whispered.

No, she herself heard nothing, but through him it was clear as the sun. The echo of the numerous life all around the world and the demand on its tone.

"The Anima Mundi is a primitive entity, the simple sum of all life on the planet. Within all its contradictions, there is only one prevailing drive : to continue existing. It makes no choices and has no dreams. What is necessary to be moved, that it moves, regardless of whether it requires a terrible kindness or a benign illness. It was a grave mentor to us so we would be ready to take the world where it needs to be. Who knows whether it succeeded?"

**· · · · · · ·**

**~ The End ~**

**· · · · · · ·**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As for all the unresolved little threads, that's what sequels are for, and a few years of future. Where this story tore everything down, that story will rebuild and hopefully be happier, if I ever feel like it. To be honest, though, I'm not likely to do it, given how poor this story was received.


End file.
